Last updated on January 5th, 2020 at 12:27 pm
It is a day of change at MSNBC as the network has canceled the extremely low rated Ronan Farrow show. The cancellation of Farrow comes on the same day that the network also canceled Joy Reid.
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MSNBC’s daytime changes continued Thursday with the cancellation of “Ronan Farrow Daily,” an MSNBC spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap.
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The network will move “Way Too Early” host Thomas Roberts to the 1 p.m . to 3 p.m. timeslot, where he’ll host a news show.
It’s about time.
Farrow’s program was the lowest rated show on any of the three cable networks. As I wrote, when the news of Reid’s cancelation was announced, “Ronan Farrow’s ratings are so bad that he is finishing behind a newscast on Al-Jazeera America. On February 4, 2014, Farrow had 22,000 total viewers compared to 44,000 for Al Jazeera America (AJAM). The former Current TV is available in fewer homes than MSNBC, so a smaller network is doubling Farrow’s viewership. Joy Reid was also struggling in the ratings, but her show was not performing as badly as Farrow’s. Plus, any chance that she had to be successful was destroyed by the fact that Farrow was her lead in.”
Joy Reid didn’t deserve to get the axe. Ronan Farrow’s cancellation was long overdue. Farrow’s show never worked. He was almost painful at times to watch. Farrow wasn’t a television person, and it showed. It got to the point where putting Farrow’s show out of its misery was the humane thing to do.
Thomas Roberts is MSNBC’s utility player, and he will almost certainly generate higher ratings than Farrow. Moving Roberts to 5 AM ahead of the slumping Morning Joe always felt like a waste of talent. MSNBC might have been better served to have Roberts take Farrow’s spot and leave Joy Reid at 2 PM, but apparently Reid has to pay for Phil Griffin’s terrible decision to hire the untested Farrow.
The good news for viewers is that it looks like Phil Griffin’s wonk obsession might be coming to an end. The other long-rumored move to be coming is that Chris Hayes will be moved out of 8 PM. Once Hayes is moved to a timeslot that better fits his talents, MSNBC will finally be on a path towards righting the ship.
Update: An MSNBC spokesperson tells PoliticusUSA that MSNBC is moving towards a more news driven lineup between 11 AM-3PM ET. It looks like the wonk experiment is over at MSNBC.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
