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

Friday nights are always a little weird — MSNBC shows prison documentaries, and plenty of 25-54 year-olds are out from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., doing 25 to 54 year-old things. But Friday night had a few other elements in the mix — Monica Crowley was guest-hosting for Sean Hannity at 9:00, while On The Record ran a special on the economy at 10:00. The result? An unorthodox night of numbers, with FOX taking the first four time slots and MSNBC taking the final three (FOX, it must be noted, ruled primetime overall, continuing its dominance).

Thursday night’s ratings would have been excused if they were a little low; there was, after all, a World Series game, and MTV had the Jersey Shore season finale (and reunion!). But that wasn’t the case at all. Maybe it was Gadhafi’s murder, perhaps it was a string of repeats on other channels (Bill O’Reilly, [...]

With World Wrestling Entertainment’s SummerSlam this Sunday night on Pay-Per-View, it seemed like an appropriate time to realize that the primetime cable news universe can often resemble the world of professional wrestling. With various hosts often feuding with one another, and frequently giving passionate “promos” regarding why their network or their show is the best, it’s time now to recognize who each host actually is inspired by in the WWE and then to pit the oversized personalities of cable news up against one another in a no-holds barred showdown!

HLN’s Jane Velez-Mitchell believes the millions of viewers who watched the network’s intensive coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial “paid more attention than some of the jurors” to the voluminous evidence in the case. “A lot of our viewers knew the details of the case to an extraordinary degree. And you don’t get the sense the jurors really did,” she said in an interview Wednesday morning with Mediaite, noting that the jury returned not guilty verdicts on all felony counts so quickly prosecutors were convinced they’d gotten a conviction.

As the Casey Anthony trial continues to unfold, the spotlight has tended to shift away from what’s going on within the courtroom to those covering the case itself. Here at Mediaite especially, we’ve been keeping an eye on the different reactions to the story by reporters and pundits across various networks. In that spirit, we reached out to a few of the hard-working reporters covering the trial to give us some insight into what the experience has been like for them. Their observations and anecdotes helped us chisel out a clearer image of what it’s like to cover a big, sensational, heart-wrenching, frustrating, perplexing story while the rest of the world looks on and weighs in.

Finally, something cute about the Rep. Anthony Weiner social media sex scandal: earlier today on CNN, Randi Kaye hosted a discussion about the Congressman’s transgressions and his refusal to resign with Jane Velez-Mitchell and Mary Matalin. Matalin surely had some worthy insights into the saga during her segment, but whatever they may have been, it’s safe to say they were overshadowed by the adorable cat grooming itself in the backdrop of her shot.

This sounds fairly harrowing: Jane Velez-Mitchell, of HLN’s solidly-rated show Issues, will be hosting a two-part special called Every Parent’s Nightmare that’s set to air both tonight and tomorrow at 7pm. The show features five parents whose children were abducted and murdered, all of whose stories have already been covered on Issues.

Cable news ratings for the first quarter came out this week, and its been a rather tough day for CNN. Writing for the NY Times, Bill Carter‘s story includes a headline that screams “CNN Fails to Stop Fall in Ratings.” No, it’s not good news – or more to the point — it’s actually more bad news. Insiders have long whispered about what’s going on at CNN, and alas, the continued and consistent poor ratings mean that its finally time to openly question Jon Klein‘s future in his role as President of CNN.

The Sea World tragedy that took the life of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau continues to wreak havoc on the typically civil world of zoology. Last night on Larry King Live, Jack Hanna once again assumed his position as spokesman for the marine biologist community and, with the help of former Sea World head trainer Thad Lacinak, debated a second round with Jane Velez-Mitchell and fended off some personal attacks from animal rights activist Ric O’Barry. The segment on whale rights more closely resembled a rerun of Crossfire than an Animal Planet special.

Political discourse is no longer the sole province for spirited and emotional debates on cable news; you can now include the ethical debate over keeping wild animals in captivity. Earlier this week, a Sea World trainer was tragically killed while working with an orca in captivity. CNN anchor Ali Velshi had on guests Jane Velez-Mitchell and Jack Hanna to discuss this calamity; things got really heated.

The disappearance and alleged murder of U.S. student Natalee Holloway during a High School graduation vacation in Aruba has been an unsolved mystery since she was last seen on May 30, 2005. Well there appears to be a rather enormous break in the case, Dutch suspect Joran van der Sloot has reportedly confessed to disposing of Holloway’s body on the night of her disappearance. Since this was a huge story on cable news programs hosted by Nancy Grace and Greta Van Susteren , its nearly certain to be a lead story tonight.

“One of the main themes in Jane’s book, for those of you who have read it know, is Jane’s plea, if you will, for living a simpler life. Now I don’t know about you all, but to me if you host a national syndicated successful daily television show, write a bestselling book and you’re one of the most sought-after and active speakers in the entire CNN/HLN universe, that doesn’t sound very simple.”

While Fox News is headed for its best ratings of all time, and CNN and MSNBC are seeing some of their worst ratings of 2009, where does that leave cable news network #4 – CNN sister network HLN?

In a very good place. HLN is also on pace for its best ratings ever, in total day and prime time, in total viewers and the A25-54 demographic. So what’s working?

We’ve written about the Erin Andrews peephole story several times, but there’s a new angle that’s being discussed since yesterday: was she asking for it?

It began on Twitter, with some tweets by USA Today‘s Christine Brennan, and has continued on the web and TV. Last night, Jane Velez-Mitchell asked the question “Is Erin To Blame?” And then she answered it – of course not.