Not long after those words were out of his mouth, the speculation started anew. The “Five” member Jesse Watters seemed to undercut the import of the breaking story, saying, “I honestly don’t think the rest of the country, outside the swamp and the Mueller partisans, cares about the Mueller report.”

After mentioning a few things that, in his view, typical citizens actually do care about, like Netflix and college basketball, Mr. Watters added, “If there was real collusion, it would have leaked by now.”

Another “Five” panelist, Dana Perino, offered commentary that was less charged. “Setting aside what it says or doesn’t say about how Russia tried to get involved, I think this report could actually be quite instructive about what we need to do to protect our elections going forward,” she said.

On this day that so many had been waiting for, Mr. Mueller stayed out of the media glare. He had issued no public comments while conducting the investigation, and even when it was all wrapped up, he did not face the cameras. All the while, through the 22 months of his inquiry, he managed to drive countless hours of onscreen discussion without setting foot in a television studio.

The news of his report followed a day of low-calorie cable fare, heavy on anticipation and light on facts, that teased the development the networks were counting on.