Politico’s Dylan Byers writes about MSNBC’s mess…
The extent of that change could be vast: In the months ahead, MSNBC is likely to shake up the bulk of its programming, moving some shows and canceling others, high-level sources at NBCUniversal told POLITICO. With a few exceptions — notably “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “Morning Joe” — every program is at risk of being moved or canceled, those sources said. “All In with Chris Hayes,” a ratings suck that currently occupies the 8 p.m. time slot, will almost certainly be replaced. Network execs are also considering moving some weekday shows, like “Politics Nation with Al Sharpton,” to weekends.
“The plan is to re-imagine what the channel is,” one high-level NBCUniversal insider with knowledge of the network’s plans said, “because the current lineup is a death wish.”
(snip)
Lack, a former NBC News president, is likely to rein in MSNBC’s ever-leftward drift and focus instead on creating more news-driven programming, with more involvement from NBC News talent. This could become a radical change of course for MSNBC, where partisan, opinion-based programming has come to dominate the vast majority of the network’s lineup in both daytime and prime time. Lack is likely to keep Griffin at MSNBC’s helm, network sources said, because his seven years as president make him best-suited to implement the changes.
The guy that ran the network into the sticks is best-suited to implement the fixes? The guy who fiddled away while the signs pointed YEARS AGO that things were in trouble is best-suited to implement the changes?
For MSNBC to have a shot at redemption, the executive team has to go. They ran the ship aground. They are not best-suited to pull it off the rocks. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional…
For some NBC insiders, the failure of “All In” — Hayes is a distant third place to Fox’s Bill O’Reilly and CNN’s Anderson Cooper, both in total and in the demo — is indicative of the limits of Griffin’s reactive approach to programming.
Well at least some people in 30 Rock get it…
Filed under: MSNBC
