Dan Abrams Delivers a Pointed Message to Partisan Cable News Hosts in First Promo for NewsNation Show

ABC News chief legal analyst and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams is set to host a prime time show on cable news network NewsNation. The first of a number of promos is airing this week, and takes aim at the competition.

September 27 is the premiere date of Dan Abrams Live, which will air weeknights at 8 p.m ET. Abrams has said the goal of his show is to cut through the partisanship engulfing cable news while offering more unpredictable and nuanced opinion and analysis. In his first promotional ad, he teases his thoughts about the media and the mission behind the program.

In the ad, Abrams steps out in front of three silhouetted cable news hosts watching him from their anchor chairs.

“So many cable news hosts are playing a part, like you guys are,” Abrams says referring to the actors. “I get it. You feel the heat to pick a side, pick a party. Too much riding on this for you to be honest about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Well I’m not going to cheer for a team. I’m also not going to fake objectivity. I’m gonna be honest with our viewers about what I think and let them decide.”

You might notice that one of the silhouetted anchors in the video is wearing a bowtie, an unmistakable nod to the top-rated host in cable news, Tucker Carlson.

When reached for comment, Abrams told Mediaite that the actors hired for the promo actually resembled several other cable news stars:

We had written this promo to be a broad critique of cable news hosts today and not targeting specific anchors. But when I arrived at the shoot, I was surprised to see that three actors had been hired who looked exactly like Don Lemon, Rachel Maddow and Tucker Carlson. Now Don is a friend, I’ve known and liked Tucker for years and Rachel and I used to work together but my relationships with them weren’t the issue. I said to the folks producing it that when I offer critiques of named hosts, which I will do regularly, I want it to be on specific issues or comments, not broad criticism. So as you can see they put them in the shadows so it was more me talking to the cable news industry. But I have to say, the promo team did a great job and I give them credit because it was pretty hilarious seeing these three actors being referred to as Don, Tucker and Rachel!

Watch the promo above.

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