MSNBC primetime shakeup; Ed Schultz, Lawrence O'Donnell to switch slots

[T.L. Hughes 752]

MSNBC is switching Ed Schultz and Lawrence O'Donnell's primetime programs to new timeslots: The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell is being from the 8 p.m. slot to its former 10 p.m. slot, while The Ed Show moves into O'Donnell's soon-to-be-former 8 p.m. timeslot. According to The New York Times, CNN's move of Anderson Cooper 360 to 8 p.m. is the reason for the switch as MSNBC has fallen to third place (behind #2 CNN and #1 Fox News Channel) in the nightly primetime ratings among cable news channels and is also second among adults 25-54 (MSNBC still has more total viewers than CNN).

 

MSNBC had beat CNN at 8 p.m. for years prior to Keith Olbermann's January departure, In September, Anderson Cooper 360 began beating The Last Word in its timeslot, resulting in a ratings dip for its lead-out The Rachel Maddow Show; The Ed Show is also behind the 10 p.m. airing of 360. Duly noted, since moving into primetime in January, The Ed Show has only aired Monday through Thursday nights, while Fridays have featured MSNBC documentary programs (most notably Lockup) in the 10 p.m. slot, so there is a possibility that The Last Word might end up getting scaled back to four nights a week when it returns to the 10 p.m. hour.