MSNBC Announces Sweeping Lineup Overhaul Involving Rachel Maddow, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid
AP Photo/Steven Senne
MSNBC formally announced a series of sweeping lineup changes set to go into effect in late April as the network enters a period of significant uncertainty.
The overhaul represents the first major move made by Rebecca Kutler, a cable news veteran who was named president of the left-leaning network earlier this month. Mark Lazarus, the CEO of MSNBC’s parent company SpinCo (the network is being spun off from Comcast and decoupled from NBC News), had previously named Kutler interim president following the exit of Rashida Jones.
Among the major changes: Jen Psaki, former press secretary in the Biden White House, will take over the 9 p.m. hour Tuesday through Friday. The hour is currently being hosted by Rachel Maddow, who returned five-days-a-week in the slot for the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Inside with Jen Psaki, which the network said was Kutler’s brainchild, has been a success for MSNBC since it launched in 2023, drawing strong reviews and solid ratings for the network.
Maddow will return to hosting her eponymous show only on Monday nights, and Alex Wagner, who had replaced her in the hour for the rest of the week, will lose her show but remain at the network as senior political analyst.
As was reported over the weekend, Joy Reid will exit the network after her show TheReidOut was canceled. She will be replaced at 7 p.m. by a panel show hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez, who currently helm The Weekend, a show airing on, you guessed it, the weekend.
Rotating hosts will anchor the 7 p.m. hour until the new panel show is up and running.
A new group of hosts will be appointed to host a morning and evening edition of The Weekend. MSNBC host and Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart will be one of the co-anchors of the morning edition (airing Saturdays and Sundays at 7 a.m.) while Ayman Mohyeldin will be a co-anchor on the evening edition (6 p.m.)
As part of those changes, MSNBC is canceling Mohyeldin’s show Ayman, which aired on weekends. It is expanding Ali Velshi’s weekend program to three hours.
In other weekday changes, per MSNBC: “On dayside, Ana Cabrera will expand an hour and anchor weekday “Ana Cabrera Reports” from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Chris Jansing will shift to anchor “Chris Jansing Reports” from 12 to 2 p.m. Katy Tur will add an hour to “Katy Tur Reports” from 2 to 4 p.m.”
There are operational changes as well: MSNBC is “consolidating its production operations to New York and Washington, D.C.,” the network said, and also establishing its own Washington bureau as it separates from NBC News.
MSNBC is also shutting down its operations in Miami and canceling two programs it produced there: José Díaz-Balart Reports, which aired at 11 a.m. on weekdays, and The Katie Phang Show, which aired at noon on Saturday.
Kutler said in a note to staff: “In the coming months, I will have more news to share on expanding our Washington operation, including establishing a bureau, and building a team of domestic and international correspondents.”
