Maverick: Dan Abrams, MSNBC (US)

Though tethered to a parent network that often can't find a useful sked with a road map, a compass and an instructional video, msnbc has made gains of late by turning its primetime over to a steady stream of docs. That move comes at the prompting of current gm Dan Abrams, who took over in 2006. Abrams made the leap to gm from his previous position as legal correspondent and host of msnbc's The Abrams Report. (Interestingly, one of his first moves was to take himself off the air, though he continues to contribute on-air when applicable.)