To wrap up a day filled with news about Palins of all stripes, here’s a brief clip from Sarah Palin‘s upcoming interview on Nightline. In it, she confesses to Barbara Walters that she’s seriously considering a presidential run—then answers “I believe so” when Walters asks if she believes she could beat Barack Obama.

Martin Bashir is leaving ABC News’ Nightline and becoming an anchor with MSNBC. He will also contribute to NBC’s Dateline – just like Kate Snow, who left ABC for NBC earlier this year as well.

Good Morning America Weekend anchor Bill Weir steps in as the third Nightline anchor. Internal memo from Bashir and more below:

For the first time in 10 years, ABC News “Nightline” beat out CBS’ “Late Show with David Letterman” for total viewers, as well as in the A25-54 demographic, in the second quarter. The last time Nightline outperformed Letterman was in 2000.

The late-night news program also had its most second quarter viewers in six years.

Listen up, bros. If you watched Kobe Bryant lead the Lakers to a victory in the NBA Finals Game 7 last night, and left your TV on for awhile, you got to see ABC News’ Nightline do a segment on Bros Icing Bros!

Although anchor Cynthia McFadden “doesn’t get it,” she’s not a bro, and the bros in the report love this thing.

Nightline‘s exclusive interview with Sandra Bullock‘s husband Jesse James gave the ABC News late night program huge ratings last night, according to the fast affiliate data. The show’s 6,817,000 total viewers was the most since the relaunch of the program in 2005.

ABC News landed the exclusive first interview with Jesse James, as Nightline‘s Vicki Mabrey landed what amounted to a follow-up to her 2004 profile of Sandra Bullock‘s husband.

While Bullock was the major topic, James’ childhood abuse by his father was the most emotional point – and his “main” reason for going to rehab.

While Sandra Bullock took her story to People magazine last month – and revealed she would divorce Jesse James after his infidelity came to light, and also had adopted a baby boy – her husband went to ABC News for his first comments on the matter.

ABC is taking its time rolling out the big get, with the first clip released today.

As the face of media evolves, it’s important to honor the figures who helped define, shape and set the standards in their industries. These are some of the most prominent members of the media who passed away over the past 10 years. Take a look back with some snippets from their respective New York Times obituaries.

It’s been announced that Palin will tape a five part series with Barbara Walters, parts of which will air on Nightline on Nov. 17 — one day after her interview with Oprah Winfrey is set to take place. Additionally, Mediaite can confirm Drudge’s report that Palin’s first cable television interview will be with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, also on November 18.

Last night’s episode of ABC’s Nightline included interviews about the Church of Scientology, one of which ended when Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis stood up, tore off his microphone and stormed off the set.

The late night supremacy debate has recently been framed as a battle between the longtime CBS star David Letterman and the recently promoted NBC host Conan O’Brien.
But there’s a third participant in the debate, making its presence felt in a big way: ABC’s comedy-counter-programming of Nightline.