Joy Reid Canceled as Jen Psaki Gets Primetime Show
MSNBC is set to shake up its programming lineup across all dayparts in a dramatic reworking of the left-leaning cable news channel’s slate, multiple sources familiar with the changes confirm to The Hollywood Reporter.
Shows in primetime, dayside and the weekends will be impacted, with some notable cancelations, elevations, and new additions expected, one of the sources says. The moves will be an opening salvo from Rebecca Kutler, who was named MSNBC’s president earlier this month.
Among the expected changes are the cancelation of Joy Reid’s 7 p.m. show, which is likely to be replaced by a panel show featuring the co-hosts of MSNBC’s The Weekend morning program: Symone Sanders, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez.
And in primetime, Jen Psaki is expected to secure additional hours during the week. The former White House press secretary currently hosts Inside with Jen Psaki on Mondays at 8 p.m. Rachel Maddow is currently hosting her show at 9 p.m. every day, but is expected to return to her one day per week schedule in April, making that hour a potential landing pad for Psaki.
Alex Wagner, who had been hosting at 9 p.m. on days when Maddow was not on-air, is likely to stay with MSNBC as a correspondent.
The New York Times, which first reported the lineup changes, added that Eugene Daniels from Politico and NYU’s Melissa Murray are also likely to be given shows or roles at the channel.
Kutler is also hiring for a head of talent, head of newsgathering, a Washington bureau chief, and a head of content strategy for MSNBC, critical roles ahead of Comcast’s upcoming cable channels spin-off, of which MSNBC will be included.
When the spinoff is complete, MSNBC will be separated from NBC News, necessitating its own newsgathering capabilities.
“We have a new company, we have new leadership, we will have new offices, and we have a non-stop news cycle,” Kutler told staff in a meeting earlier this month. “I think it’s important that we all share in the exciting parts of what the year ahead is going to mean in terms of getting to build a new news organization – one that is built for us, for our needs first, to be part of a new company that is standing itself up, and that we have a seat at the table at the ground floor of that, and what that’s going to look like and we get to help determine that. It’s going to be hard, but it’s also going to be exciting and interesting and a really important time to do what all of us do.”
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