obxwatcher 23 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 5 hours ago, Glimmer said: https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/ms-now-shake-up-ali-velshi-11th-hour-morning-joe-daytime-1236692201/ Cabrera leaving part of a number of big changes: -Stephanie Ruhle leaving The 11th Hour to anchor a new 9-11am block as Morning Joe’s 9am hour gets cut -Ali Velshi becomes the new anchor of The 11th Hour with Jacob Soboroff taking Velshi’s weekend slots -Alicia Menendez becoming an afternoon anchor as Cabrera leaves and Chris Jansing moves off the anchor chair to become MS NOW’s chief political correspondent -Luke Russert taking Menendez’s spot on The Weeknight -All In with Chris Hayes going back to a 5 night a week schedule after taking Mondays off in recent years Always felt NBC News was screwing-over Chris Jansing and this basically feels like another demotion for her.
Drew 158 Posted March 18 Posted March 18 I agree! I thought for a brief time they were grooming her to replace Andrea Mitchell as the foreign affairs correspondent role. I wish NBC would have moved her over to NBC News Now and anchored the hours that are repeats of Morning News Now.
Reweivvt88 173 Posted March 20 Posted March 20 As someone who considers MS NOW the only credible source for television news in America but at the same time was very upset by the first wave of changes resulting in the cancellation of The Reidout, Alex Wagner Tonight, and The Katie Phang Show, I support most of the changes here. The less Morning Joe the better. This show should never have been 4 hours. I never watch the program and being on the west coast it's easy to ignore, but 4 hours of any show is overkill. Moving Stephanie Ruhle back to mornings make sense as she was never a good fit for The 11th Hour. Ratings for the show have collapsed with her as host and she just didn't fit as a lead-out of the left wing opinions in primetime. Ali Velshi is a much better fit for the program. Alicia Menendez deserves her own show and she was being wasted on The Weeknight. She is great at subbing for Nicolle Wallace and I think this is a great way to get people who watch Deadline White House but currently ignore MS NOW daytime to tune in earlier. Jacob Soboroff is fantastic and it's about time he had his own show on the network. Being a weekend show still allows for him to do reporting during the week which is also bonus More Chris Hayes the better. I feel like the network has unfairly diminished his role at the network and under promoted his show. They have put so much focus on launching and promoting other shows while not giving him and All In the attention it deserves. I don't understand why Katy Tur remains as anchor on this network. She doesn't fit in at all. If anything she should have moved to reporting with Chris Jansing remaining as anchor. Katy Tur is horrible as anchor but was actually good when she was a reporter on the campaign trail. In my view it makes more sense to keep Chris Jansing as anchor as she is good at covering breaking news, something that is needed for a 24 hour news channel. She manages cover news without upsetting the left wing audience, Richard Lui is another anchor who is great at covering breaking news and is being under underutilized by the network I still don't think Rebecca Kutler is the right fit to lead this network. The network should be thriving but instead comes off as unprepared and muted to what is actually happening and seems too concerned about criticism from the right. At times the network appears desperate to focus on small failures of Trump and trying to look for positives when I think most of the audience wants a more serious and somber take of what's happening. Katie Phang & Joy Reid's youtube shows are drastically better than anything this network is putting out. 3
mouseboy33 137 Posted March 20 Posted March 20 (edited) Was Luke Russert actually any good or is this Nepo-baby stuff? Really his own show? Hmmm. I never saw the appeal. If we are going the Nepo-baby route, lets get Ronan Farrow back on air instead of Luke. But he got burned before I doubt he'd come back to telly. Edited March 20 by mouseboy33
Georgie56 3661 Posted March 28 Posted March 28 Peter Alexander is leaving NBC News to join MS NOW as a midday anchor. 1
MorningNews 1711 Posted March 28 Posted March 28 On 3/20/2026 at 7:57 AM, mouseboy33 said: Was Luke Russert actually any good or is this Nepo-baby stuff? Really his own show? Hmmm. I never saw the appeal. If we are going the Nepo-baby route, lets get Ronan Farrow back on air instead of Luke. But he got burned before I doubt he'd come back to telly. I have admiration for his work but I don’t necessarily think he’s the greatest fit with Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele when I’ve seen him fill in. Still he’s done a lot of solid work for the network over a decade.
Action Newsroom 1376 Posted March 30 Posted March 30 On 3/28/2026 at 10:24 AM, Georgie56 said: Peter Alexander is leaving NBC News to join MS NOW as a midday anchor. Confirmed by the network. He's also breaking news anchor and chief national correspondent as well as representing for the network on other Versant networks including during sports.
Reweivvt88 173 Posted March 31 Posted March 31 I think it's pretty telling how many respectable journalists who were almost exclusively working for NBC News have made the move to MS NOW. Vaughn Hillyard, Ken Dilanian, and Jacob Soboroff were all primarily with NBC News. If Peter Alexander didn't want to anchor the Saturday Today show i'm sure they could have found him a weekday anchor slot on NBC News Now, it's very telling he is joining the others and leaving the trump donating Comcast owned NBC News to join the only television news outlet in America that is not afraid of upsetting the trump admin. For years NBC News looked down on MSNBC as a left wing opinion channel but clearly a lot of respected credible journalists think the only openly anti trump TV news outlet is a better place to do journalism than the garbage disgrace known as NBC News that has become trump's home for softball interviews (I'm pretty sure Kristen Welker talks to trump more than the demons at FOX & Friends) It's easy to say the issue was the Friday night travel to New York, but I think covering a disgraceful White House for a company that is terrified of upsetting the white house has a lot more to do with this. 1 1
NowBergen 924 Posted March 31 Posted March 31 6 hours ago, Reweivvt88 said: I think it's pretty telling how many respectable journalists who were almost exclusively working for NBC News have made the move to MS NOW. Vaughn Hillyard, Ken Dilanian, and Jacob Soboroff were all primarily with NBC News. If Peter Alexander didn't want to anchor the Saturday Today show i'm sure they could have found him a weekday anchor slot on NBC News Now, it's very telling he is joining the others and leaving the trump donating Comcast owned NBC News to join the only television news outlet in America that is not afraid of upsetting the trump admin. For years NBC News looked down on MSNBC as a left wing opinion channel but clearly a lot of respected credible journalists think the only openly anti trump TV news outlet is a better place to do journalism than the garbage disgrace known as NBC News that has become trump's home for softball interviews (I'm pretty sure Kristen Welker talks to trump more than the demons at FOX & Friends) It's easy to say the issue was the Friday night travel to New York, but I think covering a disgraceful White House for a company that is terrified of upsetting the white house has a lot more to do with this. They have also picked up some very well respected former Washington Post reporters full time, like Carol Leonnig who has broken numerous scoops and Catherine Ramped.
Reweivvt88 173 Posted April 9 Posted April 9 On 3/31/2026 at 5:58 PM, NowBergen said: They have also picked up some very well respected former Washington Post reporters full time, like Carol Leonnig who has broken numerous scoops and Catherine Ramped. If anything, their news coverage is improved since leaving NBC News. Their international news coverage is just fine with reporters from AP, Reuters, Sky News, CNBC World, and other international stations. They are now getting scoops on their own. The split has just reaffirmed that NBC News provided zero value to the network, if anything it was holding the network back. 3
carolinanews4 455 Posted April 9 Posted April 9 On 3/31/2026 at 11:27 AM, Reweivvt88 said: It's easy to say the issue was the Friday night travel to New York, but I think covering a disgraceful White House for a company that is terrified of upsetting the white house has a lot more to do with this. It isn’t the act of traveling that Peter was referencing; it was being away from his family, especially his young daughters. Once kids move into high school, Friday nights become about hanging out with their friends, not their parents. Peter sees the window of time with his kids closing and has decided to make a career move to keep him DC-based. He said as much on the air. If someone doesn’t like NBC News, that’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But let’s not imply an on-air person has an ulterior motive that fits a personal perspective about how NBC reports on the government. It isn’t fair to the person who went on national television to publicly say he is prioritizing his kids. 3
l_miro 245 Posted April 9 Posted April 9 3 hours ago, carolinanews4 said: It isn’t the act of traveling that Peter was referencing; it was being away from his family, especially his young daughters. Once kids move into high school, Friday nights become about hanging out with their friends, not their parents. Peter sees the window of time with his kids closing and has decided to make a career move to keep him DC-based. He said as much on the air. If someone doesn’t like NBC News, that’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But let’s not imply an on-air person has an ulterior motive that fits a personal perspective about how NBC reports on the government. It isn’t fair to the person who went on national television to publicly say he is prioritizing his kids. people will project their beliefs onto others despite evidence showing otherwise. This is a downgrade for him. 11 AM is a dead slot and he had no other prospects in town. His wife Alison just joined a PR company in DC working with the government so he probably wasn't about to uproot his family and move for a job.
MediaZone4K 2662 Posted April 9 Posted April 9 (edited) On 3/31/2026 at 11:27 AM, Reweivvt88 said: I think it's pretty telling how many respectable journalists who were almost exclusively working for NBC News have made the move to MS NOW. Vaughn Hillyard, Ken Dilanian, and Jacob Soboroff were all primarily with NBC News. If Peter Alexander didn't want to anchor the Saturday Today show i'm sure they could have found him a weekday anchor slot on NBC News Now, it's very telling he is joining the others and leaving the trump donating Comcast owned NBC News to join the only television news outlet in America that is not afraid of upsetting the trump admin. For years NBC News looked down on MSNBC as a left wing opinion channel but clearly a lot of respected credible journalists think the only openly anti trump TV news outlet is a better place to do journalism than the garbage disgrace known as NBC News that has become trump's home for softball interviews (I'm pretty sure Kristen Welker talks to trump more than the demons at FOX & Friends) It's easy to say the issue was the Friday night travel to New York, but I think covering a disgraceful White House for a company that is terrified of upsetting the white house has a lot more to do with this. Well, in all fairness NBC News is in a tough spot. They have to maintain journalistic objectivity while covering a president who habitually lies, spreads disinformation, and attacks the media. NBC has to balance calling him out consistently, while not appearing to have an agenda against him. NBC-Comcast also has to worry about their corporate interests that are affected by government approval --- which is an unfortunate statement to make about a journalistic organization. MSNBC ---pardon MS NOW-- however is free to criticize the Trump administration unendingly. It is a partisan political network with a specifically targeted liberal audience. They don't have to worry about alienating a portion of their viewership, because I'm sure no one conservative is watching MSNBC (if not to see what the opposition is saying). Overall, NBC and the other big broadcast networks already grill Trump a lot. They could do it even harder. But do we really need them to be orange man bad on a loop 24/7 like MS-NOW? Edited April 9 by MediaZone4K
Breaking News 888 Posted April 10 Posted April 10 On 3/20/2026 at 3:54 AM, Reweivvt88 said: As someone who considers MS NOW the only credible source for television news in America but at the same time was very upset by the first wave of changes resulting in the cancellation of The Reidout, Alex Wagner Tonight, and The Katie Phang Show, I support most of the changes here. The less Morning Joe the better. This show should never have been 4 hours. I never watch the program and being on the west coast it's easy to ignore, but 4 hours of any show is overkill. Moving Stephanie Ruhle back to mornings make sense as she was never a good fit for The 11th Hour. Ratings for the show have collapsed with her as host and she just didn't fit as a lead-out of the left wing opinions in primetime. Ali Velshi is a much better fit for the program. Alicia Menendez deserves her own show and she was being wasted on The Weeknight. She is great at subbing for Nicolle Wallace and I think this is a great way to get people who watch Deadline White House but currently ignore MS NOW daytime to tune in earlier. Jacob Soboroff is fantastic and it's about time he had his own show on the network. Being a weekend show still allows for him to do reporting during the week which is also bonus More Chris Hayes the better. I feel like the network has unfairly diminished his role at the network and under promoted his show. They have put so much focus on launching and promoting other shows while not giving him and All In the attention it deserves. I don't understand why Katy Tur remains as anchor on this network. She doesn't fit in at all. If anything she should have moved to reporting with Chris Jansing remaining as anchor. Katy Tur is horrible as anchor but was actually good when she was a reporter on the campaign trail. In my view it makes more sense to keep Chris Jansing as anchor as she is good at covering breaking news, something that is needed for a 24 hour news channel. She manages cover news without upsetting the left wing audience, Richard Lui is another anchor who is great at covering breaking news and is being under underutilized by the network I still don't think Rebecca Kutler is the right fit to lead this network. The network should be thriving but instead comes off as unprepared and muted to what is actually happening and seems too concerned about criticism from the right. At times the network appears desperate to focus on small failures of Trump and trying to look for positives when I think most of the audience wants a more serious and somber take of what's happening. Katie Phang & Joy Reid's youtube shows are drastically better than anything this network is putting out. I agree with many of your points here, especially the last two—they’re right on target. As for Katy Tur, it might help to focus on improving her teleprompter delivery, as that doesn’t always come across as her strongest skill.
Reweivvt88 173 Posted April 10 Posted April 10 15 hours ago, carolinanews4 said: It isn’t the act of traveling that Peter was referencing; it was being away from his family, especially his young daughters. Once kids move into high school, Friday nights become about hanging out with their friends, not their parents. Peter sees the window of time with his kids closing and has decided to make a career move to keep him DC-based. He said as much on the air. If someone doesn’t like NBC News, that’s fine. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But let’s not imply an on-air person has an ulterior motive that fits a personal perspective about how NBC reports on the government. It isn’t fair to the person who went on national television to publicly say he is prioritizing his kids. 2 things can be true at the same time. The reason he gave justifies stepping down as host of the Saturday Today Show, not leaving NBC News entirely. Yes it's true a weekday anchor job will allow him to spend more time with his kids on Friday nights, do you really think he had to leave NBC News to get a weekday anchor job? I highly doubt NBC would be against allowing him to anchor an hour of news weekdays on NBC News Now from DC. Obviously he's not going to come out and say he's leaving NBC because it's become a garbage outlet with zero credibility because Comcast is terrified of upsetting the evil dictator who runs the country, but it's very telling to me he is just one of the many respected journalists who has decided to leave NBC News for MS NOW. The facts are he can cover Trump in an honest and real way at MS NOW that he simply can not do at NBC. MS NOW has gone from an opinion channel to a channel where you can do real journalism the other media outlets are too afraid to do, and it's no surprise they are picking up so many credible respected journalists from once respected news outlets.
Reweivvt88 173 Posted April 10 Posted April 10 11 hours ago, MediaZone4K said: Well, in all fairness NBC News is in a tough spot. They have to maintain journalistic objectivity while covering a president who habitually lies, spreads disinformation, and attacks the media. NBC has to balance calling him out consistently, while not appearing to have an agenda against him. NBC-Comcast also has to worry about their corporate interests that are affected by government approval --- which is an unfortunate statement to make about a journalistic organization. MSNBC ---pardon MS NOW-- however is free to criticize the Trump administration unendingly. It is a partisan political network with a specifically targeted liberal audience. They don't have to worry about alienating a portion of their viewership, because I'm sure no one conservative is watching MSNBC (if not to see what the opposition is saying). And this is what makes MS NOW a credible source for news and NBC a disgrace. A real credible news organization shouldn't be concerned with any of those things you correctly point out NBC News is concerned with. Respectable private news outlets in other western countries are not covering the Trump admin the same way as NBC News. MS NOW doesn't have to worry about upsetting republicans with facts or having the corrupt U.S. Government come after its broadcast license or other parts of its business. You are free to do real journalism at MS NOW without the concerns everyone at NBC News has to deal with. On top of that, MS NOW is not the FOX News of the left, you can ask tough questions to Democrats on MS NOW, you can be critical of Democrats on MS NOW. Yes the opinions expressed on the network are left wing and progressive but they don't just give Democrats a free pass on everything like right wing media does to MAGA. It's a safe space for someone like Peter Alexander to anchor a newscast that focuses on facts and proper journalism and sadly NBC News is not a safe space to do that anymore due to the reasons you listed.
mre29 1967 Posted April 11 Posted April 11 Now if only the channel could ditch the Dateline repeats. 1
freelanceproducer 188 Posted May 9 Posted May 9 MS rolled out subtle updates to its lower thirds today. The bottom bar, showcasing the show name and time, no longer touches the bottom of the screen and each side. The supers are also sized a bit differently with the ‘promo boxes’ on the right side animating in differently. See the attached photos. The KTR is the MS 1.0 look versus 1.1 from The Weekend. 2
NowBergen 924 Posted May 9 Posted May 9 23 minutes ago, freelanceproducer said: MS rolled out subtle updates to its lower thirds today. The bottom bar, showcasing the show name and time, no longer touches the bottom of the screen and each side. The supers are also sized a bit differently with the ‘promo boxes’ on the right side animating in differently. See the attached photos. The KTR is the MS 1.0 look versus 1.1 from The Weekend. I've noticed the more space a the bottom look or at least a week now. Much cleaner. Not sure how long ago it was actually tweaked.
Geoffrey 958 Posted May 11 Posted May 11 Definitely an improvement. The space below the bar has been there since the first few days of the launch. It looked like a mistake and I expected it to be fixed the next day. Now it's more similar to CNN's ticker, which doesn't touch the screen edges. I still think the bar wastes a lot of space. And I've never been a fan of the way the text is either aligned to the center or left, depending on whether the ugly promo box is there. 1
Action Newsroom 1376 Posted May 13 Posted May 13 MS Now's new(est) shows on the weekday schedule starts June 15: https://deadline.com/2026/05/ms-now-new-lineup-stephanie-ruhle-1236900859/
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