MSNBC to run tape on Friday nights…
TVNewser scoops with news that MSNBC is planning running tape Friday nights for the next five weeks instead of Live and Direct, Scarborough Country, and The Situation. According to Rick Kaplan’s internal memo this is all supposed to be a good thing….
As we go into this important period leading up to the Olympics, we’re going to air some of the great taped programming we run on weekend nights. Scott Hooker and his team have done great work with these programs and we want to give our weeknight viewers the opportunity to see them. For these five weeks, Rita, Joe and Tucker will contribute to our other primetime shows on Fridays and will be on stand-by in case of breaking news. This opportunity will also give their terrific teams a chance to get a jump on the week ahead.
Does anyone really buy this? As a programming move it makes no sense at all. MSNBC Investigates may deliver higher numbers on the weekends and that may be the thinking behind this Friday tryout but from a PR standpoint it’s another black mark on MSNBC’s reputation as a “must see” news network that competes with CNN and FNC. And it makes even less sense if this is just a temporary thing as Kaplan says it is. You can’t build traction in four to five weeks.
And are the staffs of these shows so burdened that they need a four day show week to be able to do a better job? Kaplan makes it sound like they are. And I don’t buy the wanting to give weeknight viewers a chance to see these shows. They probably already have seen these shows since they’ve been repeated so many times before on the weekends.
This sounds more like another cost cutting move to help out NBC. I don’t get it. MSNBC started turning profitable in 2004. It’s NBC’s Entertainment Wing that’s dragging everything down. But NBC News and MSNBC have to pay for NBC Entertainment’s failings. Let us count the ways in which MSNBC is now paying…
1. Cut live news by two hours weekdays and doubled up on The Abrams Report and Hardball which normally air taped during their repeat show.
2. Altered the format of live news from 12-4, tossing out interviews and analysis and substituting a boring HLN like wheel format which screams “Change the channel!” to anyone wanting something comparative to or better than CNN or FNC.
3. Gut Friday primetime by airing tape instead of their live Primetime programs which MSNBC has been promoting constantly as the best primetime lineup in all of cable news. I guess now they need to put an asterisk up that says “*-only M-Th”.
why not run scarborough and carlson from 4-6pm fridays?
as for the current 4-8pm monday-friday. IT NEEDS TO CHANGE
Comment by jman — January 11, 2006 @ 6:32 pm
A very strange move…After the Olympics coverage will Tucker Carlson’s show be canned? Which would leave him to take the full time contributor role or the train!
Comment by Terance — January 11, 2006 @ 6:36 pm
sounds like they want to give people time to forget what actually is suppose to be on at that time so they can come back with a totally revamped primetime.
Comment by Anon — January 11, 2006 @ 6:40 pm
It has finally happened. The circus has come to town.
Rick Kaplan is clueless, and must have his brains painted on.
Once more he has demonstrated a “knee-jerk programming philosophy.”
Comment by Cara — January 11, 2006 @ 7:21 pm
As Tucker Carlson’s viewer (there may be more, who knows?), I am very disappointed at this news. I actually like the guy and his program. I would think even liberals would watch him as well, as he has enough liberals on to counter his views.
So Scarborough and Carlson don’t have such stellar ratings, but why pre-empt Rita Cosby? I thought she was bringing in the ratings for them during prime time.
Sounds like this taped programming is a bad idea.
Comment by Missy — January 11, 2006 @ 9:58 pm
They are close to losing this loyal MSNBC news fan. I have had it!
Comment by gdog — January 11, 2006 @ 10:25 pm
You know Missy, this really could go either way. I really think there isn’t too much to lose, especially since they’re doing it on Friday nights, where regular networks seem to go more into weekend type programming anyways, and there are taped programs/fill-in anchors all across the news channels.
I was looking back through the ratings at tvnewser and it looks like Rita really hasn’t done too well. She is almost always behind Olbermann and Matthews, half of the time even losing to both of Abram’s shows. I think in the last week she was below the average primetime demo and overall rating 3 out of 5 times.
I think msnbc is looking at their weekend ratings, where they have done unexpectedly well with these programs. They’ve been surpassing CNN and FNC on a regular basis now. Msnbc’s weekend daytime and primetime programming is doing better than their week programming, so I really think this might make some sense and I also think this could end up being a permanent move, we’ll have to see how the ratings go though.
There’s no doubt this is a cost cutting initiative, but I think you have to look at the fact of the ratings. I really have no idea what has happened to Scarborough, he used to be their top-rated show, and now he has just continued to tumble. I somewhat agree with you Missy about Carlson, but his ratings are low, and they just aren’t increasing, whether it’s a good show or not no one is watching.
So I think it comes to be a legitimate decision to make, assuming they can manage to have their weekend crowd find the show on a Friday night and pick up some more viewers. If these tapes are going to do better than live shows, then you have to do it, for cost cutting and ratings.
Comment by AnonymousHere — January 11, 2006 @ 11:24 pm
Perhaps. But at what point does MSNBC cease fulfilling its mission statement to deliver the news and analysis that viewers expect from a cable news operation because they’re running tape when the viewers expect topicality? I fear that point is inching closer with this.
Comment by Spud — January 12, 2006 @ 12:04 am
Yes, certainly it is a worry, especially when they start cancelling shows and putting Abrams/Matthews on twice a day.
In this case, however, I think it would be perfectly fine to air documentaries or something of the sort on Friday nights. I think it might even turn out to work very well if they keep it. As long as they don’t expand this any further in weekday primetime, I believe this is an acceptable course to follow for programming on cable news, and it offers an alternative to what CNN and FNC offer. And I think by advertising it as a five-week thing, msnbc can see how it works out in the ratings. If it does well then it makes sense to continue it. However, if it does poorly and they continue it anyways then that indeed would be a problem. Then it would be a matter of cost cutting just for the sake of cost cutting, even if the journalism produced was valued less by viewers. But I really believe here msnbc is seeing this as a way to deliver higher ratings and in the process save a little money, which is a no-brainer decision.
Comment by AnonymousHere — January 12, 2006 @ 12:59 am
Just how much money did General Electric pay Microsoft to obtain that controlling share of MSNBC?!
Comment by Bob — January 12, 2006 @ 1:22 am
MSNBC has ratings fever, and I understand the good ratings must be a powerful Aphrodisiac for them. But this move, IMO, will take them out of the cable news contest.
Comment by Cissy — January 12, 2006 @ 4:37 pm
They aren’t really in the contest to begin with. But my point is that of the few people that routinely turn in, this is another strike against the network. Would you continue to watch if all signs point to them sinking lower and lower?
Comment by Skippy — January 12, 2006 @ 7:24 pm