Dan rather interviews key entertainment figures on The Big Interview on AXS TV, and the season’s lineup may surprise some. Rather, former anchor of the CBS Evening News, sits with Brian Johnson of AC/DC, Alice Cooper and Cheap Trick, among others.

“It’s a real education for me, and a great pleasure,” Rather said. “I find myself really interested in sitting down with them.”

Rather turns 88 this month. He called Alice Cooper “really intelligent,” and was pumped to meet Ringo Starr for the first time.

And then there’s Bret Michaels, who sang power ballad “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” with Poison back in 1988. Rather went to Michaels’ home in Arizona. He may not be a giant Poison fan, but a couple of Rather’s staffers are, and briefed him on everything he should know en route to Arizona.

“Bret was so friendly and so hospitable,” Rather said. “He couldn’t have been more down to earth.”

That runs Oct. 23. Then it’s Cooper, Little Big Town, Bob Costas, David Byrne, the band America, Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston, Yes frontman Jon Anderson and Alabama.

“I love doing this,” Rather said.

Speaking of rocking and rolling, Katz Networks’s Court TV is humming along five months after rebooting. On Oct. 28, Court TV debuts in several giant markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philly and Dallas.

“It’s a huge deal,” Vinnie Politan, lead anchor on Court TV, said. “It means a large number of folks are able to get back to watching Court TV.”

The network goes “gavel to gavel,” it says, on the giant court stories of the day. Politan was on the initial Court TV until it shifted to truTV in 2008. He co-hosted Bloom & Politan with Lisa Bloom.

“I’m kind of like a legacy anchor,” he said.

These days, Politan hosts Closing Arguments with Vinnie Politan. “Looking into the lens,” he said, “is like looking into the jury box.”

Which court cases have his attention? Amber Guyger, the former Dallas police officer who went home to the wrong apartment, and killed the man, Botham Jean, inside. The clip of Jean’s brother Brandt asking Guyger for a hug went viral.

“I’ve been covering this stuff for decades,” said Politan. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Harvey Weinstein’s case next year will make a few headlines too.

Much has changed since Court TV went off the air. Social media allows viewers to weigh in on cases in real time. The cable news networks, Politan said, mostly avoid court to focus on politics.

“We are filling this huge void,” he said. “True crime has never been as popular as it is right now.”

The media is still trying to figure out how they were so wrong about predicting Donald Trump’s historic election as president of the United States.

Much of the media had Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton easily ascending to the office of the presidency, only to eat crow when Trump shocked the world on Election Day.

But veteran TV journalist Dan Rather foresaw Trump’s potential ascension from real estate mogul and reality TV star to the most powerful position in the free world. In an interview I conducted with Rather this past January during the Television Critics Association Winter press tour before the first Republican primary vote for Trump was cast, the current host of AXS TV’s The Big Interview told me that Trump’s ability to take advantage of the media and his unconventional outreach to a segment of America virtually ignored by both the Republicans and the Democrats could lead him to the White House.  

Below is Rather’s fortuitous assessment of Trump’s political success: