How's Melber doing so far? For the months of July through September, The Beat averaged 1.26 million total viewers, 286,000 ahead of CNN's 6 p.m. offering, the second hour of Wolf Blitzer's show. Both shows trailed Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News, which averaged just over 2 million viewers for the period. "We're in a comfortable position," McDorman says.

In person, Ari Melber, the lawyer/television host/well-documented rap music fan, is very on-brand. During an hourlong coffee date at a restaurant below 30 Rock, Melber's work phone goes off and the ringtone is a Bob Marley song. The ringtone on his personal phone, he says, is a song by the rapper Future. During his panel with Lupica and feminist media executive Jess McIntosh, Melber makes a Kanye West reference that the 65-year-old Lupica isn't familiar with.

Melber says he's in flow with his new show, and doesn't try to affect an impartial news anchor shtick. "I feel like I'm totally me, and I feel like the show reflects my intensity, my vibe, and my search for evidence and answers," the 37-year-old says. "My hope is to be a trusted utensil for viewers. Like, literally, 'That thing works, I can rely on that thing.'"

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Melber is very zen — and, once again, on-brand — when asked how long he thinks he has to prove out the concept of the show and his ability as a daily cable news host. He begins by quoting — or, more accurately, paraphrasing — a line from the 2003 song "Hey Ya!"

"You know, Outkast said, 'If nothing lasts forever, what makes love the exception?'" he says. "Does anything on this earth last forever? I mean, you can get pretty cosmic about it. We are very happy that the show is doing so well right now, because we're connecting with the audience.... This is a great opportunity that MSNBC has given me, and that's how I think about it."