NEW YORK (AP) — After Shepard Smith set off some internal Fox News Channel bickering over his description of "entertaining" opinion programming, a glance at the cable television rankings reveals the extent to which political talk has become a pastime for millions of Americans.

The Nielsen company said 26 of the 40 most-watched programs on cable television last week were political shows on Fox or MSNBC. That included each weeknight telecast by Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity and Lawrence O'Donnell. Smith, the afternoon news anchor who signed a contract extension last week, had one show on the list.