CNN A.M. Future: Miles O’Brien? [Updated Anew]

Zoraida: Miles…in these parts, you are a rock star! Yesterday, Early Start co-host Zoraida Sambolin greeted former American Morning anchor Miles O’Brien to the CNN a.m. like a returning hero. During a space segment with the whilom point man for NASA coverage, Zoraida reintroduced the once canned anchor of the low-rated American Morning to CNN’s early morning shrinking audience. Before his report (on the return to earth of the NASA-sponsored Space X Dragon), Zoraida gushed, “Miles, I got to tell you, in these parts, you are a rock star! Everybody absolutely loves you! Very excited to talk to you this morning.”*

The moment seemed surreal: Miles O’Brien, a “rock star”? Almost five years ago, he and his American Morning co-host Soledad O’Brien unceremoniously got the Klein boot because of low-ratings (in favor of John Roberts and Kiran Chetry). When John and Kiran could not right the AM ship nor their interim successors Christine Romans, Carol Costello, and Ali Velshi, CNN replaced AM with their even more ratings-challenged shows Early Start (with anchors Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida) and Starting Point (solo host Soledad): With ES and SP listing even lower than AM ever had, perhaps, Miles O’Brien “in these parts, is a rock star” and everybody does love him again.

So much so, that CNN brings Miles back to its early mornings?

*Early Start – 05/31/12 (@ 6:04 a.m. ET)

Update 1: Turner Broadcasting CEO Phil Kent may have much more drastic measures planned for CNN’s a.m. than possibly adding Miles to the cast. After defending his prime-time line-up on the very day of Miles ES appearance, Kent admitted that “we have some other shows that probably need to be replaced.” If recent ratings are any indication, Early Start and Starting Point may well be among those very CNN shows.]

Update 2: According to the New York Daily News, veteran ABC reporter John Berman has now enlisted with CNN and will become an Early Start anchor. If Berman were to join the gals Ashleigh and Zoraida, he would add some much needed male perspective: But, if he teamed up with Miles instead (and the ladies exited), ES would become an all-boy’s club, perhaps, no more attractive than the current all-gal gala. Perhaps, on the bright side, Berman may simply serve as the last captain of CNN’s wee-hour Titanic and Kent will finally get a seaworthy ship.]

Kilmeade Disparages Hispanics?

On the same day that Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade praised Geraldo Rivera’s The Great Progression: How Hispanics Will Lead America to a New Era of Prosperity, he seemed to disparage Hispanic emergency room patients generally as  “people seemingly without citizenship.” Before lauding Geraldo’s book, Kilmeade presided over a segment entitled, “Health Care Overhaul: Coverage for Illegals–Will Undocumented Benefit Under Reform?” During his interview of Phil Kent of Americans for Immigration Control, footage of people illegally entering the U.S. from Mexico ran and the effect of “cracking down on illegals” on Hispanic voters was discussed.

Toward the conclusion of the colloquy, Kilmeade lamented the fact that “people with citizenship, with insurance, wait while illegals get treated and that’s happening now and will happen under any revamp.” As he ended the segment, he said, “It’s just amazing! I know two or three personal stories of people just going to the emergency room (one broken finger, one twisted knee) and then just leaving because they can’t get waited on because of the long line of people seemingly without citizenship who are there that have to be treated ahead of them. And, they are the ones who are actually paying.” [Italics added for emphasis.]

Ironically, approximately two hours later on the show after an interview with Geraldo, Brian extolled Geraldo’s book as “excellent.” Immediately prior thereto, Geraldo had said that the motif of his book was how Republicans had turned off Hipanics, who naturally would have been Republicans, by “emphasizing the worst aspects of the immigration debate. In making his point, Geraldo explained how George W. Bush had proved to be the exception in his success with Latinos in the 2004 presidential campaign (winning 44% of their vote): He declared, “Because he [Bush] was a former border-state governor, he understood that you have to talk nice about people. You don’t disparage them with slanderous generalizations and stereotypes.”

Geraldo’s lesson learned? Hopefully, so.