What the Hell Is Going On Over on MSNBC?

There’s been a major shake-up at MSNBC in recent months, culminating this week in a significant overhaul of its lineup. Following the election, network president Rashida Jones stepped down after 4 years. She was replaced by Rebecca Kutler, who initially served as interim president before officially taking over last week.

Kutler now faces the challenge of steering MSNBC as it spins off from NBC—along with several other networks—into a new entity called SpinCo. Without access to NBC’s extensive newsgathering resources, MSNBC will need to generate more of its own reporting while leaning even further into opinion. While the network saw a post-election ratings slump, viewership has rebounded since the inauguration. In fact, though CNN’s ratings have also improved, MSNBC has taken a commanding lead over its rival (though it still lags behind Fox News).

As part of the shake-up, Kutler has canceled Joy Reid’s 7 p.m. show, The ReidOut, and is pulling Alex Wagner from her role hosting The Rachel Maddow Show Tuesday through Friday (Maddow has temporarily returned to five nights a week for the first 100 days of the Trump administration).

Wagner, who will stay on at the network, will be replaced by Jen Psaki, whose The Jen Psaki Show will take over Maddow’s Tuesday-to-Friday slot. Meanwhile, Reid’s hour will be filled by a panel show featuring Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez (daughter of Bob).

News of Reid’s cancellation leaked over the weekend, and she hosted her final episode last night. Her staff, along with those of other canceled shows, is also being let go, though they have the opportunity to reapply for positions on the new lineup, which is not exactly comforting to them.

The shake-up hasn’t gone over well with Rachel Maddow, who openly criticized the decision on air last night. “It’s not my call, and I understand that,” she told viewers. “But that’s what I think. It is also unnerving to see that on a network where we have two—count them, two—non-white hosts in prime time, both of our non-white hosts in prime time are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend. And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible. And I do not defend it.”

All the folks who exited NBC today. Seen together, hoo boy. Message received.

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— Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) February 24, 2025 at 11:14 PM

(Lester Holt, longtime host of the NBC’s nightly news program, also announced yesterday that he will step down later this year.)

While MSNBC is adding three people of color to Reid’s former timeslot and expanding Ali Velshi’s airtime to fill the gap left by Phang, the optics are decidedly not great. That said, Reid’s fate was apparently sealed last year when her contract was only renewed for one year. She also ranks last in the primetime ratings (although, only slightly behind Jen Psaki’s Monday show).

But I don’t think ratings were the deciding factor. MSNBC seems to be moving toward a “palatable progressive” aesthetic, as Oliver Darcy put it—one embodied by Psaki rather than Reid, who was far more confrontational. The network has recently touted its ability to attract more Republicans and Independents than CNN, which makes sense given its lineup now prominently features Nicole Wallace, Joe Scarborough, and, soon, Michael Steele in primetime. Liberal audiences love the idea that the right is breaking with Trump, which they feel is reflected in the voices of a former RNC chair, a former Florida GOP congressman, and George W. Bush’s ex-communications director. No. It’s not. MAGA will never break. Give it up. (To be fair, Wallace is excellent at her job.)

Whatever the reason, these massive changes that affect not only the hosts but also hundreds of staff members are not the way to go about it. It feels awfully DOGE-y.

Maddow: That has never happened at this scale in this way before when it comes to programing changes, presumably because it's not the right way to treat people and it kind of drops the bottom out of whether or not people feel like this is a good place to work

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— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) February 25, 2025 at 12:41 AM

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