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MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is only appearing on the left-wing network once per week while taking off four days per day.
Maddow, who is the liberal network’s most popular and watched personality, has reportedly wanted to move away from the rigors of the weeknight schedule. She’s also been focusing on other “special projects.”
The replacement for Maddow is turning heads as the network named Alex Wagner will takeover the timeslot for the four days per week.
However, since Wagner was previously canceled after he failed to attract an audience and “never moved the needle on television.”
Industry insiders are questioning why executives would attempt to replace the network’s biggest star with Wagner.
A former high-level NBC News staffer said, “Clearly there’s no institutional memory at NBC.”
“Alex Wagner’s 4 p.m. show there was a disaster both in ratings and behind the scenes where it was known for chaotic management,” the former staffer continued.
“The show was canceled, and she left and ended up at The Atlantic. That doesn’t happen if you’re a success in cable news.”
More on this story via Fox News:
MSNBC finished the second quarter of 2022 with its smallest audience among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54 since 2003. MSNBC’s nearly two-decade low in the critical category came during a jam-packed stretch of news that included Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Uvalde, Texas school shooting, and the beginning of the January 6 committee hearings.
The second quarter also featured Maddow scaling back her workload to once a week, as she began hosting “The Rachel Maddow Show” only on Monday nights last month. NBC selected Wagner, a former MSNBC host, to replace Maddow with a new program’s 9 p.m. ET time slot Tuesdays through Fridays beginning in August.
In 2015, MSNBC canceled her dayside program “Now” after a four-year run. At the time, MSNBC claimed Wagner’s show was among those cut as part of a programming reshuffling in order to shift daytime towards straight news – but the program’s ratings were not exactly desirable. Previously, a panel-style show airing at 12 noon ET, its set-up was changed and moved to 4 p.m. in 2014, following the resignation of host Martin Bashir for his vitriolic remarks about Sarah Palin.
“Now” averaged only 384,000 total viewers and a mere 55,000 among the demo in its final month to trail Fox News at 4 p.m. ET by 218% in both categories. The 152 episodes of “Now” that aired in 2015 before it was canceled averaged only 328,000 total viewers and 49,000 among the demo to trail Fox News by over 280% in each measurable.
Then in 2016, MSNBC scrapped a weekend show Wagner was set to launch after the network previously announced the program. She joined The Atlantic as a senior editor that same year.
