Maddow Announces She’s Scaling Back to Mondays Only on MSNBC

Rachel Maddow returned to her eponymous show Monday following a two-month hiatus, but she announced a major change. She will only host the show one night per week, beginning in May.

“It’s nice to be back,” Maddow said to open Monday’s show. “I’ve been away from the show for a few weeks. I took a hiatus to give myself a little reset and also to work on some other MSNBC projects that I’ve got cooking.”

Maddow described her hiatus as “fantastic.”

“I am really grateful for it,” she said. “I know it is an unusual thing to get in this business. I’m very grateful to MSNBC and the president for letting me do it. I’m profoundly grateful to the staff on the show to keep everything running, we’re doing such great work.”

The host praised her network colleague Ali Velshi, who has been filling in for her since she left to develop her book Big Man into a film with Ben Stiller and Lorne Michaels.

She then addressed the potential for another hiatus, which she hinted at before she took a break in February.

“I said when I left before that I might eventually be taking another hiatus later on this year,” Maddow said. “That things were fluid, we’d be taking it one step at a time. That’s also true-ish.”

She added she enjoyed her time off, and

did not believe she would need more. She then announced that viewers will see less of her, beginning in May.

This one was great, but I think only need the one. Or do still have all these other Irons in the fire, all these other things I’m working on that I want to bring to

“So here’s the plan, I’m back, I’m gonna be here all this month Monday through Thursday night,” she said. “I will be here this month, Monday through Thursday nights, and then starting next month, starting in may, I’m gonna be here weekly. I’m gonna be here on Monday nights, again, to give myself just more time to work on some of the other stuff that I’ve got cooking for MSNBC and NBC.”

Maddow said her plans could change, depending on what is going on in the world. MSNBC will use rotating hosts Tuesday through Friday when the change happens.

“We will see how things go,”she concluded. “But, that is the plan as of now. So, now you know.”

Watch above, via MSNBC.