Jen Psaki Moves to Primetime Weekdays in MSNBC Overhaul
The move is the latest to be unveiled from MSNBC under new leader Rebecca Kutler, who has wasted little time in tearing up the network's schedule as it faces seismic pressures. MSNBC is grappling not only with the new Trump administration, to which many of its progressive anchors and analysts are directly opposed, but it also faces a big change in its business operations once it is, along with a group of other cable networks, spun off from Comcast in a transaction slated to be completed later this year.
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While Rachel Maddow is anchoring 9 p.m. five days a week during the early part of the Trump administration, she will return to hosting only Mondays soon. At that time, Psaki's show will roll out Tuesday through Friday. Her program, 'Inside with Jen Psaki,' has become MSNBC's most-watched on the weekends and has expanded audiences at 8 p.m. on Mondays. 'Since joining MSNBC, Psaki has become a crucial and trusted voice for the network,' Kutler said in a memo on Monday.
'As I shared with many of you a few weeks ago, my goal is to build on the successes that have distinguished MSNBC from its peers,' Kutler said. 'We now have one of the most engaged audiences in all of television and are seeing rapid growth across digital, audio, and more. In the years ahead, we must continue to show up for our audiences in this critical moment while simultaneously best positioning ourselves for the future.'
Under her new plans, Alex Wagner, who had been stationed at 9 p.m., will become a correspondent for the network, and the trio that currently hosts 'The Weekend,' Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez, will move to 7 p.m. weekdays, hosting two hours on Monday evenings. Joy Reid, the current 7 p.m. anchor, will leave MSNBC.
Kutler has new plans for weekends as well. She will launch two new roundtable hours, one at 7 a.m. and one at 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Jonathan Capehart, who has been a familiar weekend presence at MSNBC in recent years, will serve as one co-anchor of the morning show, while anchor Ayman Mohyeldin will work in the trio in the evening program. Ali Velshi, meanwhile, will expand his namesake weekend program, 'Velshi,' to three hours.
And the daytime schedule will be tweaked. Ana Cabrera, Chris Jansing and Katy Tur will each anchor two hours on weekdays. Jose Diaz-Balart, who anchored a late-morning hour, will come off MSNBC and remain the anchor of the Saturday broadcast of 'NBC Nightly News.' Katie Phang, who hosted an early-morning hour on weekends, will remain with MSNBC as a legal correspondent.
MSNBC intends to launch its own Washington bureau once separated from NBC News, and will consolidate production operations in New York and Washington D.C.
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