Cosby/Carlson switcheroo…
TV Newser says that The Situation is going to be bumped to 11 pm to make room for Rita Cosby’s new show on August 8th.
If this is true this is a huge setback for The Situation and and Tucker Carlson…tantamount to a no confidence vote in the program. It has only been on the air for a few short months (much less time than the even lower rated Connected: Coast To Coast which has had no action taken against it so far). For Rick Kaplan, who has been following the “baby steps” approach in how he manages primetime, to juggle the lineup this quickly, as opposed to tweaking the program format and giving it more time to establish itself, suggests that the in house research on the program has come back so negative that only a program switch will save the 9 pm hour.
Cosby’s show was originally supposed to launch in Q4 so ICN’s eyebrows were raised when the Aug 8 launch date was announced. Something caused MSNBC to change its mind. Despite the biggest advertising blitz in MSNBC’s history for a new prime time program, The Situation, which took five months to come together after Carlson was signed, has been in trouble almost since the day it was launched. Panelist Jay Severin was removed from the program for reasons that are still murky. The ratings came back showing that people were tuning out in huge numbers from its lead-in Countdown and then coming back for the next program Scarborough Country. Now The Situation is being moved to 11 pm without tweaking the show first. It’s only a matter of time before the previously unthinkable word “cancellation” will start being bandied about regardless of the merits of such a discussion…
Finally! MSNBC gets something right for once. Why leave such a failure on at 9? I am not a fan of Cosby but, she has a lot better chance against the competition than TC does. Rita has a lot of fans, while TC does not. I think MSNBC called FNC’s bluff since SS mentioned a PM show the other day. I would assume this would be FNC’s counter for Cosby at 11. Now, I would imagine that statement will be all but forgotten. After all, why would FNC put SS on live at 11 to go against TC? I would be an occasional viewer of Cosby, I have even given TC a chance or five!
Comment by Terance — July 29, 2005 @ 10:06 am
The 11pm show with Shep Smith that has been mentioned is a newscast for local affiliates on the “Big Fox” network, not on FNC. I thought Cosby had a real chance to make a dent at 11:00 pm but I agreed with ICN that 11:00 pm is just a prelude to cancellation for Tucker.
Comment by johnny dollar — July 29, 2005 @ 10:21 am
OK thanks for the info. I thought they meant FNC at 11. TC’s game is tired. He has nothing to offer prime time TV. IMO had MSNBC hired Cosby prior to Carlson, he wouldn’t have gotten the job. Cosby has her fans and I believe some will migrate from FNC. I am guessing she will far exceed any other prime time show on MSNBC (ratings wise). It will be interesting to see just how high her ratings are. Seeing that MSNBC has turned so many viewers off. I’m not exactly a fan of hers but, I would rather watch her than H&C, LK. Although i’m usually watching Primenews Tonight at 9pm on HLN.
Comment by Terance — July 29, 2005 @ 10:30 am
The only one who wins is probably Cosby, but I doubt her ratings will even be up to par with CNN’s. Carlson is a joke, CNN was right to let him go. CNN and FNC send all of their failures(i.e. Tucker Carlson & Monica Crowley) to MSNBC. In fact, MSNBC is a failure.
Comment by anonymous — July 29, 2005 @ 6:21 pm