The daytime segment of cable's first day concluded with four Turner-related panels: Joy Behar on her new HLN talk show; a CNN panel with John King, Christiance Amanpour, and Soledad O'Brien; a panel with Jerry Bruckheimer and the cast and producers of TNT's Dark Blue; and George Lopez, who is starting a new late night talk show on TBS.

Behar and Lopez bookended the session, and they were an interesting contrast. Two comedians, both opinionated, both with things to say about current events. But while Behar's gentle jabs played to mostly silence among the cranky writers in attendance, Lopez got more than a few of us to laugh. I've never been the biggest Lopez fan, but I have to admit, he was ready for us: he made most of us stand up to talk to him, he jostled us on our reluctance to be enthusiastic, and he was able to make pretty quick comebacks with ease. Must be the years of dealing with hecklers.

Anyway, after the jump, some details of Turner's day in Pasadena, including audio of an interview with O'Brien that I started with the word "cankles."

I'll be honest right now: I tuned out of most of the Dark Blue panel. I was busy writing up my Man vs. Food panel experience, and nothing about the show that I've seen so far interested me. As it was, Bruckheimer, Dylan McDermott, and company really didn't say anything interesting. When asked about the differences between producing for cable as opposed to CBS, Bruckheimer answered in the most diplomatic and vanilla way he could. And, considering that it was the only thing I was curious about, I checked out after that. If I find a good account of the panel, I'll link to it here.

Other highlights:

The Joy Behar Show

• Behar wants to talk to Sarah Palin on her new HLN show, which debuts in September. "I'd seriously and calmly answer my questions as an American Woman." When asked why Palin would ever want to come on the show, Behar couldn't really answer. She did joke that she could talk to someone else with a perspective on the story, like her hairdresser.
• On the tumultuous year Rosie O'Donnell was on The View: "It was a very interesting year for me. It was very volatile. She ruffled feathers and threw herself around, and we got good numbers. Barbara (Walters) got ruffled by it, too. Sometimes I thought I could live without it, to be perfectly honest. Sometimes i got into it. The View is a reality show of the highest order, in a way. What you see is the truth there."
• She'll keep doing The View while she does this show, on a similar schedule. She's looking forward to doing shows with "alternative" guest stars, and calm, mature discussion. She sees other pundits -- Olbermann, O'Reilly, etc. -- as having a bit of the performer in them, but she's not approaching her show from that perspective. "I'm an American Citizen who wants an answer."

Lopez Tonight

• As I said, Lopez was very chatty with the crowd. When I stood up to ask him a question, he told me "I've got a girl that would be great for you." When I said I was engaged, he said, "She doesn't have to know about this." When I insisted she'd find out, Lopez asked "Is she at least in the 18-to-34 age group?"
• Apparently, there's a George Lopez on some terrorist watch list somewhere, because "when i enter the country I get pulled aside, and it takes me a little longer to get through customs." No immigration humor there; Lopez was dead serious when he said that.
• The show, according to Lopez and producer Jim Paratore, is more akin to a party than a staid talk show, with a format that may change. If he's got a good band on -- his dream booking is Bruce Springsteen -- he'll change the format of the show to get the big guest on sooner.
• His model for the show was Arsenio, which debuted (gulp) 20 years ago. "Don't you agree that there could be a place for a show like this? To be a Latino and cross over in America is the toughest thing to do... (It's so tough), a professor can't even get into his own house," he said, referring to the Henry Gates fiasco.
• President Obama will be on a pre-taped opening segment on Lopez' first show. He campaigned for Obama, and is surprised the "38 Latino voters made the difference." He's proud to consider Obama a friend, calling him "Barack" to the reporters.

CNN

• Amanpour talked about her special Generation Islam, where she visited Afghanistan and Ghana to see what the thinking of modern Islam is these days. What she said about it was enlightening, but not very quotable. You'll just have to see the special.
• John King thought Obama had "more balls in the air than any president in my lifetime." When I asked him about the "magic wall" he uses on State of the Union being the constant butt of jokes on The Daily Show, he laughed and said he loves the jokes. But the Magic Wall isn't just a gadget: "The wall is a tool. it was crucial to our election coverage. It was a vehicle to take people closer to the story. I consider it a great compliment that they made fun of me because they noticed it. It's part of the conversation of news and politics."
• On Lou Dobbs continuing to give voice to the people who think Barack Obama is not a citizen, network president Jon Klein claimed: "There's the facts, and there's the flap. Dobbs has very clearly reported and run down the facts. Dobbs himself has repeated that over and over again. There's this phenomenon of people who don't believe it anyway. They're offering up news pegs over the last few weeks.There's the flap but the facts are a settled issue and a dead matter."
• Finally, O'Brien, who was there to discuss her special Latinos in America. I was curious if the former Weekend Today anchor had seen her former show's exposé on "cankles" earlier this week, and wondered if she's happy she's not doing that kind of fluff anymore. Her response is in the audio file below:

Soledad O'Brien on "cankles" and fluff news (3:24)