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CNN Endures Talk-Show Tensions

At the two-month mark, the ratings for CNN's latest experiment, "Parker Spitzer" are stagnant. The show has been troubled by backstage tensions that have spilled out in gossip columns. In its first seven weeks, "Parker Spitzer" averaged only 140,000 viewers ages 25 to 54, a drop of 2,000 from the seven weeks before it started, according to the Nielsen Company. "Countdown," on at the same time on MSNBC, reaches twice as many people in that demo.

Neither Spitzer nor Parker had regularly hosted a show before, are learning how to do so in front of its viewers. Neither host was screen-tested before being hired, a fact that later raised eyebrows inside Time Warner, CNN's parent company. In part, the show has been watched carefully because it represents Spitzer's return to the public spotlight. But it is also because CNN is adrift, having shed a third of its audience in prime time the last five years.

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