Crime-Time TV

Image credit: Phil Spector: Ringo H.W. Chiu/POOL/AP Worldwide

These days, while defense attorneys may provide the occasional exclusive (witness ABC's legal analyst Cynthia McFadden's pre–gag order interview with Jackson attorney Mark Geragos), they're often rendered superfluous: When Geragos, in his role as Scott Peterson's attorney, posited that Laci Peterson was murdered by a satanic cult, the media dismissed the theory and went back to covering Peterson's affair with Frey. ''One of these cases becomes the narrative of the day and the whole thing becomes a cottage industry,'' says PR crisis manager Dan Klores. ''It sells more advertising. It sells experts.''

While there's nothing new about 24-hour news networks using events (the first Gulf War, Princess Diana's death, the Monica Lewinsky affair, even Sept. 11) to generate ratings, celebrity trials have become the go-to viewer-grabbers between political sex scandals and telegenic wars. In between the initial raid on Jackson's Neverland ranch and the singer's even more widely covered arrest, total day ratings jumped sharply for all three of the cable news networks. But it's not just news junkies and shut-ins tuning in: Both ''Dateline'' and ''20/20'''s coverage of Jackson's arraignment last month drew increases in the valuable 18–49 demographic.

Given the glut of upcoming trials, and Jackson's propensity to turn the simplest legal proceedings into a made-for-TV spectacle, the shows have plenty to work with. ''Some of the coverage from the other outlets should be called 'splatter coverage' -- you just throw a whole lot of stuff on the wall and see what sticks,'' gripes McFadden.

Jackson has stuck, Stewart has not. Although the domestic goddess' not-so-mea-culpa to Barbara Walters scored big ratings for ''20/20,'' the cable news networks are not devoting special resources to her trial. ''Most people look at Stewart's trial as rich people taking money from other rich people,'' explains ''Court TV'' president Art Bell. ''It gets more of a shrug from people than a Scott Peterson trial with real human drama and emotion.'' With plenty more where that came from -- Blake, Spector, Bryant -- now the networks can even afford to be choosy.