Along with several other changes to the weekend lineup, including the cancellation of Mehdi Hasan’s hour-long weekend show, MSNBC will be airing The Weekend in the mornings on Saturdays and Sundays.
On both days, the show will air from 8 to 10 in the morning with hosts Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend, and Alicia Menendez.
Among the other shifts, Ayman Mohyeldin will now host a four-hour program on Sundays, replacing Mehdi Hasan’s one-hour show. Despite the absence of a permanent host, Hasan will continue to work for the network as a political analyst. Symone Sanders’ show and his Peacock streaming series will both be ending.
The hours of Alex Witt Reports will be extended from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET, and Yasmin Yossoughian will remain a national reporter.
On the weekends, Jonathan Capehart’s show will air at 6 p.m. ET, while Katie Phang’s show will air at noon ET on Saturdays. With four hours of programming on weekends, Ali Velshi will keep his time slot. The modifications take effect on January 13th.
President Rashida Jones of MSNBC wrote a memo to her employees in which she claimed the upcoming changes would help the network “better position ourselves as we head into the presidential election.”
She said that “The Weekend” show “will provide thoughtful analysis and coverage on the state of our country from three trusted voices familiar to the MSNBC audience.”
Much conjecture has swirled around Hasan in recent weeks due to his controversial views and controversial interviewing methods, which have garnered him significant attention.
As for Israel’s reaction to the terror attacks in Gaza, he has been criticizing it. Earlier this month, he had a controversial interview with Mark Regev, who is an advisor to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Mehdi Hassan’s show canceled by MSNBC as part of weekend shakeup https://t.co/bNc05bOz72 pic.twitter.com/sRZexcyWvU
— The Hill (@thehill) November 30, 2023
It’s been a tough year for MSNBC and CNN in the cable news arena.
CNN continued to perform poorly during October compared to other major cable news networks, especially powerhouse Fox News. However, the network did manage to pick up some viewers year-over-year, according to a Tuesday report.
“Fox News again topped all the cable news networks in October, but only CNN and MSNBC gained viewers versus last year, as Israel-Gaza coverage and the House Speaker upheaval dominated the news cycle,” Deadline reported.
The outlet noted further: “In primetime, Fox News averaged 2.12 million viewers, down 7% from October 2022. MSNBC drew 1.33 million, up 12%, and CNN posted 722,000, an increase of 16%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 256,000, off by 13%, while CNN averaged 167,000, up 25%, and MSNBC posted 132,000, up 16%.”
The source added: “Fox News averaged 1.36 million viewers overall, down 8%; MSNBC came in second with 895,000 viewers, up 19%; and CNN came in third with 600,000 viewers, up 12%.
In the adults 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 174,000, down 15%, while CNN posted 124,000, up 17%, and MSNBC was at 98,000, up 23%.”
Deadline further reported that the ratings numbers come from Nielsen via Fox News.
The top-rated cable news program on all networks, once again, was Fox News’ “The Five,” drawing an average of 3 million viewers. Fox’s “Jesse Watters Primetime,” who is also a co-host of The Five, came after that program and averaged 2.58 million viewers.
Following Sean Hannity was Fox’s “Special Report,” with 2.21 million viewers, and Laura Ingraham’s “The Ingraham Angle,” with 2.17 million viewers.
According to Deadline, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” which airs on Mondays, averaged 2.5 million viewers. The Five came in second with 316,000 adults 25-54 viewers, followed by Hannity with 300,000, Gutfeld! with 292,000, Jesse Watters Primetime with 270,000, and The Ingraham Angle with 244,000.
The news for CNN continues to be dismal, however, and in September, the network made cable news history, though not in a positive way.
“The network just hit an all-time low in viewership among the key demographic in primetime ratings, according to the latest data released by Nielsen,” TheStreet.com reported at the time.
The decline is “another sign of the difficulties facing incoming boss Mark Thompson,” the New York Post added.
The Post noted further: “The cable news network logged its worst weekend ratings on record in the all-important 25- to 54-year-old demo, according to the latest Nielsen data. CNN — which launched in 1980 and bills itself as ‘the most trusted name in news’ — totaled just 55,000 viewers for its weekend slate of shows that include Sunday political programs ‘State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,’ and ‘Fareed Zakaria GPS.’ The network’s Sunday primetime lineup, which featured ‘The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper’ and ‘Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy,’ drew 43,000 in the demo.”
The outlet also reported that the dismal weekend showing is the worst for the network since 1991, the earliest point at which television viewership data is readily available.
The report said that CNN’s overall viewership was not a lot better, logging around 345,000 total viewers, well behind Fox News’ 683,000 and left-wing MSNBC’s 424,000.
“Fox won the battle in the key demo as well, drawing 75,000 viewers to top MSNBC’s 47,000, which finished behind CNN,” The Post noted.
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