Get to the Back, Tucker!
Well it looks that MSNBC is getting to throw in the towel on the Bowtie.
The Situation is getting bumped back to the 11 pm Eastern / 8 pm Western. Ex-FOX reporter Rita Cosby's
new show Rita Cosby: Live and Direct will take over the 9 pm Eastern / 6 pm Western spot.
MSNBC President Rick Kaplan tried to spin it -
"I'm thrilled to extend MSNBC's primetime programming to midnight with 'The Situation with Tucker Carlson," said Kaplan. "MSNBC will be the only cable news network to offer viewers six hours of first-run primetime programming, and the network will now offer our west coast viewers a live program at 8 p.m. (PT) for the first time. The fast-paced style of 'The Situation' is best suited for a late night audience."
So you need to be throughly "stoned" to watch it.
Of course this means that Tucker will have to compete directly against The Daily Show and the second rerun of Bill O'Reilly. Which makes no sense if they are truly trying to save the show. Us "stoners" are going to be watching Stewart's show and the "conservative stoners" are going to be watching Loofa man. Tucker better start looking for another home.
This also means that MSNBC will have 3 hours of "right wing speakers" in a row - Cosby, Scarborough, and then Carlson. This again makes no sense - as Armando pointed out yesterday - Olbermann is carrying the network. People are telling MSNBC that they want objective news reporting, not a bunch of pundits. If they wanted pundits, they will watch FOX, the 24-hour punditry network.
Let's see how this plays out, I will continue to tune in to watch Keith and then watch something else. So Kaplan still will not solve this problem -
MSNBC Losing Viewers At 9 & 11pm
Today's primetime schedule shift at MSNBC is designed, at least in part, to shore up the channel's ratings. Look at the year-over-year slippage:
Since the Situation premiered on June 13, it has averaged 201,000 viewers, and 82,000 in the 25-54 demographic. By way of comparison: The 9pm hour on MSNBC, between June 14 and July 28, 2004, averaged 353,000 viewers, and 109,000 in the demo. That's a 43% decrease in total viewership between 2004 and 2005.
The Situation isn't any better at 11pm: The repeat of Hardball has averaged 194,000 viewers between June 14 and July 28, down from 350,000 during the same time period in 2004 -- a 45% decrease.