HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell is dropping the Issues from the title of her 7pm EST news program airing weeknights.

As the Occupy Wall Street continues to grow and refuses to depart Zuccotti Park, it seems to accumulate allies from the strangest places. The newest celebrity on the Occupy Wall Street bandwagon? Bette Midler, who told Joy Behar on her program today that she was “thrilled” to see young people “saying things that have to be said,” so much so that she offered to provide portable toilets for the occupiers.

Weird things come in threes, and today the final chapter of “Legendary Crooners Make Surprisingly Bold Political Statements” arrived today with an exclusive Joy Behar interview with Harry Belafonte, where Belafonte pulls no punches on the damage he believes Herman Cain is doing to the black community. Commenting on the latter’s claim that he doesn’t see racism “hold[ing] anybody back in a big way today,” Belafonte called Cain a “bad apple” who has no authority to talk about “the pride of people of color.”

In case anyone were wondering, Nancy Grace is still angry. The fact that Casey Anthony is now a free woman seems to have lit an even brighter fire under Grace as she visited Piers Morgan tonight for an interview. Repeating that she was “let down” by the verdict, Grace took offence to Morgan suggesting she made the case “her own” and shot back at other lawyers who had spoken to Morgan and considered the verdict reasonable: “your experts are wrong.”

“She’s going to have to live with herself for the rest of her life.” Nancy Grace has, perhaps, taken to the plight of little Caylee Anthony with a fervor unparalleled in the national media, and while she made statements earlier in the day, she seems to have saved her best for her own show. Her outrage was in full force tonight, as was that of the attorneys on her program, who decried the injustice made in setting Casey Anthony free (after a term for lying to authorities).

As the defense begins to wrap up their arguments in the roller-coaster Casey Anthony trial, one witness has come to the fore after taking the stand to demand truth from Casey’s father George. Krystal Holloway, who testified that she gave George Anthony money and had an affair with him, spoke to Prime News‘ Vinnie Politan about her experiences with the Anthonys and how she is coping with the trial.

Glenn Beck‘s star may have risen higher than ever when he arrived at Fox News, but long before he was drawing on chalkboards and counting czars on his hands he was up to all sorts of mischief at Headline News, where his program was a bit more of a pop culture hodgepodge than a daunting, consistent barrage of information on how the world may or may not be ready to call it a lifetime. Beck was also more prone to interviewing guests, and one night entertained the legendary Mr. T, who he somehow got to comment on the Mark Foley scandal.

Star Jones has been some time removed from her stint hosting The View, but it’s clear her time there, good and bad, made a profound impact. Visiting former colleague Joy Behar tonight to discuss her new novel– about, yes, female talk show hosts– Jones called her last year on the program “miserable” and wondered aloud about the lack of vocal good will from Behar after her open-heart surgery.

Spring 2011 is bringing a brand-new program to Headline News hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky. Dr. Drew, who made his name in the TV world through the hit series Celebrity Rehab, will be hosting a primetime discussion program which, talking to Joy Behar, he described as a talk show of a similar format to hers.

Mediaite Managing Editor Colby Hall joined Vinnie Politan‘s nightly panel on Headline News’ Prime News this week for a rapidfire round of pop culture scrutiny. On the menu was the future of both Brett Favre and Lindsay Lohan, the wisdom of getting a tattoo, and crime caught on tape.

Americans were gripped Tuesday night by images from the scene of the Chilean miner rescue. But whose images gripped them most? While CNN won during one hour, Fox News Channel, dominated prime time as usual, ahead of CNN, MSNBC and HLN. The network that built much of its success off of opinion-driven prime time shows clearly still performs well when it comes to live coverage of breaking news.

Last night Rachel Sklar was a guest on HLN’s The Joy Behar Show with comedian Jay Mohr and Maxim editor Joe Levy to discuss Emma the Amish Model (NSFW!), whether President Obama really suggested Rush Limbaugh go “play with himself,” the veracity — and relevance — of the rumors about Elena Kagan’s sexuality, and whether it was “just a matter of time” before someone made a Jersey Shore-inspired porno. It got…feisty.

Joy Behar‘s new HLN show has had no shortage of high-profile and controversial guests since its premiere, and has made a big (and successful) PR push. During her first week on air it seemed like clips of Behar and her guests were all over the Internet.

But after one week, have the ratings matched the buzz?