Fox News was almost universally lauded for their production of the Republican debate on Thursday night, and the amount of people who tuned in made it doubly enjoyable for the cable news network: 6.7 million viewers tuned in to watch the debate, with 1.9 million of them coming from the 25-54 year old demo. The only debate this year to beat these numbers was ABC’s last week, which pulled 7.6 million overall and 2.1 million in the demo. Keep in mind that ABC is in about 17 million more homes than Fox News.

Fox News Producer Tadek Murkowski described his experience exiting of what Fox has deemed Libya’s “Hotel From Hell,” saying, “It came down to this, they were told, keep the journalists there until you hear from us,” later boiling the hostage-like conditions down to a hard-lined and heightened-in-desperation loyalty amongst the Qaddafi loyalists left to watch over them in the hotel.

Cable news ratings, August 17, 2011:

•Wolf Blitzer‘s interview with President Obama landed CNN’s Situation Room into second place among viewers 25-54 at both 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday, beating MSNBC’s Chris Matthews at 5 and Rev. Al Sharpton at 6. Fox News took first place both hours, with The Five and Bret Baier.

Cable news ratings, August 11, 2011:

•The Republican presidential debate in Iowa Thursday night was a ratings winner for Fox News, attracting an audience of more than 5.2 million total viewers in the 10 p.m. hour. The first hour was slightly lower, with 4.8 million total viewers. Coverage of the debate at 11 p.m., hosted by Sean Hannity, dominated the hour with 2.9 million total viewers–ahead of MSNBC’s 631,000 viewers and CNN’s 513,000.

Cable news ratings, August 10, 2011:

•FNC’s prime players, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren each had a strong night Wednesday, but together they dominated the cable news landscape with a combined total audience of nearly eight million viewers–more than the combined total viewers of all shows on CNN, MSNBC and HLN combined in those three hours (6.4 million).

Cable news ratings, August 9, 2011:

•MSNBC was live until well past midnight Tuesday with coverage of the Wisconsin recall election, leading the network to a second place finish overall and an average of more than 1.1 million total viewers in primetime. Ed Schultz, who was live from Wisconsin, had 1.137 million total viewers. Rachel Maddow had 1.231 million total viewers at 9 p.m., and was live again at midnight.

Overall, Fox News remained comfortably in first place, with an average audience of nearly 2.5 total viewers in primetime.

Cable news ratings, August 8, 2011:

•On a big news day, Fox opened strong with The Five and steadily grew a huge audience, with The O’Reilly Factor hitting 3.5 million total viewers and an average audience of 877,000 among viewers 25-54. CNN and MSNBC tied for second place in primetime among viewers 25-54 (each had an average audience of 227,000 viewers), but Fox News was dominant, more than doubling the two networks combined, with an average audience of 636,000.

Cable news ratings, August 5, 2011:

•A busy news night Friday–with Standard & Poors downgrading the nation’s credit–put MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show within just 16,000 viewers 25-54 of Fox News’ usual ratings winner Hannity, which still won the hour with 314,000 viewers. CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight was third, but well back, with 151,000 viewers.

Cable news ratings, August 3, 2011:

•So the what-do-we-put-in-Glenn Beck‘s-slot show is showing some strength in the ratings department. Fox’s The Five had an average rating Thursday of 432,000 viewers 25-54–higher than that of any show on CNN, MSNBC or HLN, and more than all the other cable news shows in the timeslot combined. Five also performed well among Fox programs, outperforming both Shepard Smith and Greta Van Susteren.

The July ratings period brought yet another overall win by Fox News, but the breakout star–no surprise–was HLN, where the network had its best month ever (total day) among both total viewers and viewers in the key 25-54 demo. HLN also ranked first among cable news networks in the dayside daypart (Monday to Friday, 9 to 5) thanks to the network’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial. The verdict in the case, on July 5, was the most-watched event on cable or broadcast television, with more than 5.2 million viewers watching HLN between 2:15 and 2:30 p.m. as the verdict was read.

Cable news ratings, July 27, 2011:

•CNN’s Piers Morgan may be getting unwanted attention for his past role as a tabloid newspaper editor–including time at the scandal-tarred and now defunct News of the World–but it’s not hurting his ratings. On Friday night, Piers Morgan Tonight hit a total audience of nearly one million viewers, and had an average audience of 300,000 viewers 25-54. That put the show just behind MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow (356,000), but well behind Fox’s Sean Hannity (531,000). Overall, PMT had the biggest ratings of the night on CNN, beating Anderson Cooper‘s AC 360.

Cable news ratings, July 28, 2011:

•As the nation moves toward an August 2d debt crisis deadline, there’s plenty of news for the Washington-based cable news shows, and a few of them battled it out Thursday for bragging rights. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews took second place behind Fox’s The Five with an average audience of 211,000 viewers 25-54–beating CNN’s Washington-based Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. But at 7 p.m., CNN’s DC-based John King beat Matthews and took the second place spot behind Fox’s New York news show hosted by Shepard Smith.

Cable news ratings, July 27, 2011:

•A fascinating 10 p.m. battle on Wednesday, as Fox’s Greta Van Susteren hit unusually high numbers with 563,000 viewers 25-54, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper put some distance between AC 360 (341,000 viewers) and MSNBC’s Ed Schultz (318,000). This hour will be one to watch, with Cooper set to move to 8 p.m. (with a re-air or new live show, if news warrants) at 10.

Cable news ratings, July 26, 2011:

•Big ratings for Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, who had a combined total audience of more than 5 million viewers. Among viewers 25-54, the two shows totaled more than 1.3 million–making the two shows easily the top rated programs in all of cable news. Fox’s lowest-rated hour was the five p.m. The Five, which had an average audience of 332,000 viewers 25-54, still more than enough to win the hour over CNN, MSNBC and HLN.

Cable news ratings, July 25, 2011: •Fox News dominated the ratings for its coverage of the primetime addresses of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, hitting an average total audience of well over three million viewers in the 9 o’clock hour and more than 3.5 million total viewers between 9:01 and 9:16 p.m. ET, [...]

Cable news ratings, July 22, 2011:

•Fox News had extended coverage of the debt talks in Washington Friday–and Speaker John Boehner‘s decision to walk away–and the ongoing reporting brought FNC big ratings. In the 7 p.m. hour, Fox had its biggest ratings of the night, with 2.463 million total viewers and 564,000 viewers 25-54. Fox led primetime Friday night, with an average audience of 408,000 viewers in the demo, ahead of MSNBC’s 282,000 and CNN’s 200,000.

Cable news ratings, July 21, 2011:

•CNN’s Situation Room and AC 360 (without the vacationing Anderson Cooper) were the only CNN programs to avoid a fourth place finish among viewers 25-54 Thursday night, with 360 taking second place at 10 p.m., and Sit Room landing in third place at 6 p.m. In the ten o’clock matchup, 360 had an average audience of 285,000 viewers in the demo, well ahead of MSNBC’s Ed Schultz (254,000)

Cable news ratings, July 20, 2011:

•Dr. Drew Pinsky had the highest ratings of the night for HLN Wednesday, with an average audience of 245,000 viewers 25-54–pulling ahead of Nancy Grace, who had 237,000. In Dr. Drew‘s timeslot of 9 p.m., the HLN show was in third place overall, well behind Hannity on Fox News, but just 19,000 viewers behind MSNBC’s top ratings performer, Rachel Maddow, who averaged 264,000 viewers in the demo Wednesday.

Cable news ratings, July 19, 2011:

•Ratings for HLN’s Nancy Grace have fallen from the stratospheric heights they reached during the Casey Anthony murder trial, but the show remains strong, averaging 268,000 viewers 25-54 Tuesday–putting the show in second place behind Fox’s Bill O’Reilly (613,000) and ahead of MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell (238,000). CNN’s In the Arena, set to be replaced by Anderson Cooper next month, was far back in fourth place with 185,000 viewers.

Cable news ratings, July 18, 2011:

•At 10 p.m., Fox’s On the Record won the hour (with 456,000 viewers 25-54), but the battle for second, third and fourth place was a tight one, with CNN, HLN and MSNBC all finishing within 11,000 viewers 25-54 of each other. MSNBC’s Ed Schultz prevailed, with 243,000, followed closely by CNN’s AC 360 (which was without a vacationing Anderson Cooper) and HLN’s Joy Behar.

Cable news ratings, July 15, 2011:

•Fox’s The 5 may not have reached the ratings heights of a certain Glenn Beck, but it continues to show signs of strength, including a Friday night victory over all other competitors at 5 p.m. The 5 had an average audience of 218,000 viewers 25-54, easily beating MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (166,000), CNN’s Situation Room (162,000) and HLN’s Special Report (120,000).

Cable news ratings, July 13, 2011:

•Fox’s five p.m. show The Five got a taste of sweet victory Wednesday, winning its timeslot among total viewers and viewers 25-54. The show have an average audience of 220,000 viewers in the demo, beating HLN’s Special Report (186,000), MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (154,000) and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (127,000).

Cable news ratings, July 12, 2011:

•The fledgling Fox News show The Five fell into third place among key viewers 25-54 Tuesday–a rarity for any evening program on FNC. The Five had an average audience of 191,000 viewers in the demo, placing it behind timeslot winner Chris Matthews on MSNBC (204,000) and HLN’s Special Report (196,000). CNN’s Situation Room finished fourth, with 175,000 viewers. Among total viewers, The Five finished first in the 5 p.m. hour.

Cable news ratings, July 9, 2011:

•MSNBC’s Ed Schultz beat his ten o’clock competition Monday, finishing with 310,000 viewers 25-54. That put The Ed Show ahead of Fox’s On the Record by 7,000 viewers in the demo. CNN’s Anderson Cooper finished third with 213,000 viewers.

Cable news ratings, July 8, 2011:

•In the aftermath of the frenzy of coverage surrounding the Casey Anthony murder trial–and the hotly debated verdict–HLN’s Dr. Drew Pinksy seems to be hanging on to an audience, winning the 9 o’clock hour among viewers 25-54. Dr. Drew averaged 390,000 viewers, well ahead of Fox’s Hannity, which averaged 286,000. CNN’s Piers Morgan landed in fourth in the timeslot, but had CNN’s best ratings on the night, with an average audience in the demo of 174,000.