‘CNN Primetime’ Spent an Hour Rehashing Terrifying Air Travel Stories for Some Reason

“Tonight,” CNN Primetime began ominously on Thursday night. “Close calls… bird strikes… dangerous turbulence… unruly passengers… system meltdowns. America’s aviation industry facing headwinds and life and death questions about the safety of passengers and the future of flying.”

News programs usually aren’t light. On the other hand, they typically aren’t this heavy, either.

CNN has been experimenting with its primetime lineup under the tenure of Chris Licht, who took over for Jeff Zucker in February 2022. One particular area of focus has been the 9 p.m. time slot, which has lately been reserved for town halls and hourlong specials on a variety of current events.

The tinkering occurs as the network’s ratings lag far behind its cable news competitors, Fox News and MSNBC. CNN’s ratings are at their lowest in more than a decade.

On Thursday night, CNN Primetime at 9 p.m. aired a one-hour special that wasn’t tied to a particular current event, but nonetheless something relevant to many Americans: air travel.

But Scott’s Cheap Flights this wasn’t. Nor was it a tutorial on ways air travelers can say, reduce stress while traveling. In fact, it was the exact opposite. For one hour, viewers were fed an unrelenting diet of harrowing tales from the sky about problems passengers have virtually no control over whatsoever.

The title of the show was “Flight Risk: Turbulent Times for Air Travel.” It should be observed that though air travel in 2023 does suck, it is nonetheless as safe as it has ever been.

The task of hosting Thursday’s Primetime fell to Kate Bolduan, who ran through the gamut of various nightmare air travel scenarios.

For lack of a better term, the show was soft-core disaster porn. And though the program did not mention it, one was hard-pressed not to feel the presence of MH370 – the missing jetliner that disappeared over the Indian Ocean in 2014. CNN leaned into coverage of that tragic event so much, the network’s hosts essentially ran out of material. Famously, Don Lemon asked a CNN guest if the craft could have disappeared into a black hole.

It’s hard not to imagine Thursday’s Primetime was an attempt to recapture, well, “magic” isn’t the right word at all, but you get the idea.

Watch above via CNN.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.