Leading the hour, as it has been for some time, is Fox News’ Hannity, which averaged 2.53 million total viewers and 343,000 in the 25-54 demo. Rachel Maddow averaged 230,000 while MSNBC Prime posted 134,000, the latter trailing CNN Tonight which had 144,000. In the 25-54 demo, the audiences get much smaller. Still, MSNBC Tonight beat CNN Tonight, which has featured a rotating series of hosts since Chris Cuomo was fired. In July, The Rachel Maddow Show averaged 2.39 million viewers, enough to break into the top five shows in the hour, while the rest of the week, called MSNBC Prime, averaged 1.42 million. the rest of the week, when a rotating series of personalities have filled in. There is a viewership falloff from the night the Maddow hosts vs. “If the choice is let Maddow go, they can’t afford to do that,” Tyndall said. Maddow signed a new contract last year and was insistent on cutting back on her weeknight schedule, leaving her room to work on special projects and series but still remain with the company. They know what they are getting.” (Keith Olbermann, the former MSNBC host, claimed that he had been in talks for the hour, but Maddow nixed the idea. He sees the network strategy as “trying not to rock the boat. The Maddow on Mondays, Wagner on Tuesday-Fridays format may be a bit different for viewers accustomed to seeing their favorite personalities night after night, but it reflects the demands on news channels to retain brand names while trying to cultivate new stars.Īndrew Tyndall, the media analyst, said that in picking Wagner, MSNBC is trying to minimize the loss of Maddow, its top-rated show, on the other nights of the week. Woe be to those who try to mimic her style, and I am certainly not going to be one of them.” “There is no one else like Rachel Maddow. “I think the best shows are reflective of each host’s personality, and I hope that this show is reflective of my personality and I hope that the audience is responsive,” Wagner said. Having formerly hosted MSNBC’s daytime Now with Alex Wagner, she returned to the network in February as senior political analyst and guest anchor, including filling in for Maddow. She also has served as executive director of Not On Our Watch, the nonprofit set up to monitor and call attention to mass atrocities, and authored the book FutureFace: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging, which looked at her own family history to examine immigration and identity. Wagner will be the only Asian American to host a primetime cable news show, but she also has had an eclectic career in journalism, including stints as editor in chief at music and culture magazine Fader, contributor to The Atlantic, co-host of CBS This Morning Saturday and co-host and executive producer of Showtime’s The Circus. In selecting Wagner, 44, the network is tapping someone in sync with MSNBC’s progressive bent, but with a different background from Maddow’s. It’s a more deliberative process that that.”Īlex Wagner To Take Over Rachel Maddow's Time Slot At MSNBC We’re not throwing spaghetti against the wall. “It’s been a lot of brainstorming, a lot of meetings. hour, and how we can make a through line with what we do Tuesday through Friday, and also add in some new elements that are reflective of my experience,” Wagner said in an interview with Deadline. “We are trying to figure out the ways we can carry through some of the incredible intellectual rigor and informative analysis that Rachel has established in the 9 p.m. PT slot the rest of the week.Ĭomparisons are inevitable, but while Alex Wagner Tonightwill share the same executive producer with The Rachel Maddow Show, Cory Gnazzo, and Maddow has figured in promotions for the debut, Wagner said, “This is going to be a different show.” While Maddow, the network’s top-rated personality, will continue to host her show on Mondays, Wagner will fill the 9 p.m. When Alex Wagner debuts her new MSNBC show on Tuesday, she will be taking on an unusual arrangement that came about following Rachel Maddow’s contract renewal with NBCUniversal.
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