Wolf Blitzer Not Guaranteed: What to Watch on CNN on the Weekends

Weekend programming is a different beast than the hectic nature of weekday cable news. It can be sparser, but it’s no less fascinating for the cable news junkie. Mediaite is here to offer a primer on what to expect from weekend offerings on cable news — with CNN this week.

This writer, it should be noted, is well immersed in the goings on of cable news on the weekend by virtue of being one of Mediaite’s weekend editors.

CNN’s weekend programming puts the focus on breaking news just as much as the network’s weekday shows, but usually* without marquis talents like Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett, Don Lemon, and Chris Cuomo.

David Gergen and John King still usually show up if you were worried about that.

Sunday is when CNN’s weekend programming shines, with the big interview show in State of the Union with Jake Tapper, followed a few hours later by Reliable Sources, a great hour of media criticism hosted by Brian Stelter.

*Much like MSNBC, CNN has taken to airing specials on the ongoing impeachment inquiry on Sunday nights – bringing in the marquis weekday anchors to anchor one to two hours of television on a Sunday night.

This is a breakdown of the best shows — and some of the history as CNN has been doing this for a while, subject to various re-launches and re-brands every few years.

Before getting into that though, it’s important to mention Ana Cabrera and Fredricka Whitfield, who both anchor a massive amount of television on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings (roughly equivalent to CNN Newsroom’s weekday anchors workload sandwiched into 2 days).

Smerconish — 9 a.m. Saturday

The eponymous show hosted by longtime radio host Michael Smerconish and frequently broadcast out of his home city of Philadelphia is one of CNN’s highest rated weekend shows, perhaps surprisingly for a show shown at 9 a.m. on a Saturday. Smerconish doesn’t fit in a neat ideological bubble, given his conservative background and later endorsement of Barack Obama – but it does mean he gets guests who might not show up on other cable news programs like former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

S.E. Cupp Unfiltered — 6 p.m. Saturday

Cupp has performed the rare “Triple Lindy” of cable news, having hosted a show in some form on all three major networks (and HLN, which counts but also doesn’t). She is now reliably seen on CNN Saturday nights — where her program has become a must-watch for Mediaite thanks to powerful monologues and interviews with sitting members of Congress, often hitting President Trump from the standing of a principled conservative.

The Axe Files with David Axelrod — 7 p.m. Saturday.

Enjoy podcasts? You’ll love this CNN show with former Obama adviser David Axelrod. The Axe Files takes the format of a big glossy interview show. It’s an hour-long long focus interview with one subject. Axelrod isn’t a “tough” interview by any stretch of the term, but his sit downs do offer insight into the background and character of his subjects. It’s a fascinating watch, but doesn’t do well for my job when I need a headline with the word ‘BASHES’ or ‘SLAMS.’

The Van Jones Show with Van Jones — 7 p.m. Saturday.

The 7 p.m. hour on Saturday rotates between a CNN news hour, The Axe Files, and The Van Jones Show. This takes the format of an uplifting talk show, where Jones interviews Democrats and Republicans. Jones has even managed to interview a large number of governors who I wouldn’t assume would agree to be interviewed on national television (the ones who are not running for president, to be specific). The show also insists on seating everyone in uncomfortable looking stool chairs that are unnervingly high off the ground. It can be heartwarming.

Inside Politics with John King — 8 a.m. Sunday.

Look, if you’re watching Inside Politics on 8 a.m. on a Sunday, I assume you’re some sort of John King super-fan who is familiar with the format of his show, which airs every day of the week except Saturday (when I assume King is practicing on the electoral map board he’s glued to during election coverage). You get it.

State of the Union with Jake Tapper — 9 a.m. Sunday

This is the arguable flagship show of CNN’s weekend programming and again a longstanding part of CNN’s lineup. Hosted by John King at its inception, who later left the program to Candy Crowley, Tapper took the reins in 2015.

He’s emerged as one of the stars of the Sunday political talk shows, as a capable interviewer that produces headlines with his serious interviews with White House officials, lawmakers and newsmakers alike. He’s also kind enough to provide a palate cleanser that let’s us catch our breath on news-heavy Sundays: a weird cartoon sketch thing at the end of each show. One had Trump getting caught by Melania reading Stormy Daniels’s tell-all.

GPS with Fareed Zakaria — 10 a.m. Sunday

Credit where credit is due, CNN airs a weekly show that is dedicated almost entirely to foreign affairs reporting — which neither MSNBC nor Fox News can claim. Zakaria frequently gets high-profile but not obvious news-cycle interviews, like his talks with former titans of U.S. foreign policy like Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell. GPS is like an issue of The Economist in motion. And one of the best shows on cable as a result.

Reliable Sources with Brian Stelter — 11 a.m. Sunday

This is the show where Brian Stelter muscles in on Mediaite’s territory, reporting on the intersection between media and politics. We can’t complain too much. Reliable Sources is an excellent program, and makes serious news on the beat.

To be fair, Reliable Sources has been around for a long time on CNN – since 1992 in fact – and airing continuously since (aside from a period where it was a blocked-out segment on State of the Union)

Current host Stelter joined CNN to anchor the program after the departure of longtime host Howard Kurtz, who decamped for Fox where he now anchors the competing program MediaBuzz.

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CNN also has a well-regarded documentary unit that airs its programs generally after 9 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays (Apollo 11 has a good shot at an Oscar nomination). Currently the keystone series This is Life with Lisa Ling is airing Sundays but other documentary series or full-length movies are commonly aired on weekend nights when news programming has ended.