CNN Lineup Changes

[hfiles 80]

https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2021/01/11/cnn-announces-new-washington-based-anchor-roles/

 

The most notable change: The Situation Room becomes an hour-long program. Is this the beginning of the end for Wolf Blitzer at CNN?

 

 

Quote

• Beginning in April, Jake Tapper’s program The Lead with Jake Tapper will expand to 4-6 p.m. ET nightly. In addition, he will continue in his role on Sunday mornings, now co-anchoring State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. He will also serve as the network’s lead anchor for all major Washington events.

• Wolf Blitzer will continue to anchor the network’s signature evening newscast, The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, now airing from 6-7 p.m. ET nightly. The program will be seen around the world, simulcast on the CNN US and CNN International networks. He will also have a principal anchor role for all major breaking news and continue to host CNN special reports.

• Dana Bash has been named co-anchor of the network’s Sunday morning newsmaker show, now called State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. Tapper and Bash will each anchor two Sundays a month, beginning January 24th. In addition, Bash will continue as the network’s chief political correspondent and will also host quarterly primetime interview specials.

• Abby Phillip will become the anchor of Inside Politics Sunday with Abby Phillip, from 8-9 a.m. ET on Sundays, beginning January 24th. Phillip has also been named the network’s senior political correspondent.

• John King will continue to host Inside Politics with John King weekdays from 12-1 p.m. ET. The network’s chief national correspondent, he will also continue to have a key role in all political coverage.

• Jim Acosta has been named anchor and chief domestic correspondent for CNN. His anchoring duties will be on the weekends with more details coming soon.

• Pamela Brown will become the anchor of CNN Newsroom on Saturdays and Sundays from 6-9 p.m. ET, beginning January 23rd. Brown will also serve as a senior Washington correspondent for CNN.

 

 

[JustinH 43]

Also, with the Jim Acosta & Pamela Brown promotions, where does this leave Fredricka Whitfield & Ana Cabrera? Possibilities:

 

Saturdays:

6-9 AM: New Day Weekend (unchanged)

9-10 AM: Smerconish (unchanged)

10 AM-12 PM: Jim Acosta (New)

12-3 PM: Fredricka Whitfield

3-6 PM: Ana Cabrera

6-9 PM: Pamela Brown

 

Sundays:

6-8 AM: New Day Weekend (unchanged)

8-9 AM: Inside Politics w/Abby Phillip (new)

9-10 AM: State of the Union w/Jake Tapper & Dana Bash (new)

10-11 AM: Fareed Zakaria GPS

11AM-12PM: Brian Stelter

12-2PM: Jim Acosta (New)

2-4PM: Fredricka Whitfield

4-6PM: Ana Cabrera

6-9PM: Pamela Brown

[Daybreak 287]

1 hour ago, hfiles said:

https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2021/01/11/cnn-announces-new-washington-based-anchor-roles/

 

The most notable change: The Situation Room becomes an hour-long program. Is this the beginning of the end for Wolf Blitzer at CNN?

 

 

 

 

I believe so! Wolf has not been favorable for a while now and I may be reading too much into this but the back and forth with Nancy Pelosi turned some viewers off as well. His days seem numbered. 

 

Also this would have been the perfect opportunity to promote Jeremy Diamond. I have been very impressed with his reporting this past year. 

[Breaking News 825]

1 hour ago, Daybreak said:

 

I believe so! Wolf has not been favorable for a while now and I may be reading too much into this but the back and forth with Nancy Pelosi turned some viewers off as well. His days seem numbered. 

I saw that with Wolf, but Wolf as well Leslie Stahl press Nancy on some tough questions. The people get upset, but isn't that the reporters job to be tough on politicians on both sides?  Not to sound

like an ageist but Wolf is 72 years of age. One has to wonder if Wolf plans to scale back on his work. Time can only tell.

[Drew 149]

So when they bring back Inside Politics branding to weekdays are they going to do the same for CNN Right Now & At This Hour? All have been under the CNN Newsroom branding

[Newsjunkie24 506]

3 hours ago, Breaking News said:

I saw that with Wolf, but Wolf as well Leslie Stahl press Nancy on some tough questions. The people get upset, but isn't that the reporters job to be tough on politicians on both sides?  Not to sound

like an ageist but Wolf is 72 years of age. One has to wonder if Wolf plans to scale back on his work. Time can only tell.

 

If Wolf is 72 and might scale back, wouldn't Andrea Mitchell also do the same on MSNBC? She's 74 and she also doesn't seem all that favorable with viewers either.

[NBC 5 Chicago 191]

I'm sure this is just Wolf scaling back. I mean the man's been working 7 days a week for months. CNN has a great pool of reporters to step up to the roles. 

[Roadrunner 216]

I agree; I know it feels odd, but I'm not feeling that Wolf's "demotion" is really an ageist response. 

He will always have a strong presence at the network, regardless of when he's on air, and he is headed for retirement some time this decade IMO, so others will be groomed for the prominence.

Of course that's not to forget how sus they were to shut Brooke out from her post for a bit of time last year (not sure if those reasons were disclosed).

Will be curious to see if anything changes in Atlanta or NY this year as well.

 

Re: Acosta-- CNN's basically telling all the naysayers to take it or leave it, given the promotion they're giving him.

It's clear that they've found or think his aggressive reporting in the press room has reaped net gains over losses.

[froyo49 230]

1 hour ago, Roadrunner said:

Of course that's not to forget how sus they were to shut Brooke out from her post for a bit of time last year (not sure if those reasons were disclosed).

My guess is that they wanted to see if Jake could handle two hours and if people would watch, similar to how they let Chris Cuomo do a couple shows in prime time before he got the permanent spot. It makes sense since it appears his little audition went well. (Then again if they tried they probably could’ve found a slot for Brooke but I digress)

[jrogo 196]

So has CNN canceled “SE Cupp Unfiltered”? I know her show hasn’t been on since before the pandemic but it seemed to do well. Maybe they’d put her on for an hour at 9pm on weekends? 

[Glimmer 281]

CNN eyeing another anchor shift; this time possibly having Alisyn Camerota and Brianna Keilar swap timeslots

[Roadrunner 216]

2 hours ago, Glimmer said:

CNN eyeing another anchor shift; this time possibly having Alisyn Camerota and Brianna Keilar swap timeslots

Your link seems to redirect to something else (at least for me it did), so here it is for those who want to read it:

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/cnn-new-day-shake-up-alisyn-camerota-brianna-keilar-1234905503/

 

Personally, I don't really agree with the proposed change because I think the dynamic between Alisyn and John is pretty strong and I imagine loyal viewers have grown even more attached to the duo through the past administration. But having read the article, it does suggest Alisyn does actually want out of those hours.

 

There's no doubting Brianna's profile within the network nowadays, but I actually think the independence she's given during her hours makes her stronger as a broadcaster because she commands a strong presence and isn't held back by someone else. She'd even make for a pretty strong candidate for primetime, but those shows aren't going anywhere any time soon so I suppose the morning flagship is the next best thing. I'm sure she'll be just fine where they place her but I'm wondering if they'll force her to rein it in on New Day or allow her to maintain her style, which would make the show a more aggressive competitor against MJ.

 

As an aside, I guess I'm more surprised they're not tweaking the Poppy & Jim timeslots, since I feel they have the most lukewarm reception of the anchors. 

 

[ddaniels20 68]

With the recent CNN lineup changes announced today, I will post a tentative schedule here as of April. I posted the tentative weekday schedule on the other CNN forum but not for weekends. (Times in ET)

 

Weekdays

5-6 AM: Early Start

6-9 AM New Day w/ John Berman + Brianna Keilar

9-11 AM: Poppy Harlow + Jim Sciutto

11-Noon: Kate Bolduan

12-1 PM: Inside Politics

1-2 PM: Ana Cabera

2-4 PM: Victor Blackwell + Alisyn Camerota

4-6 PM: The Lead

6-7 PM: The Situation Room

7-8 PM: Erin Burnett Outfront

8-9 PM: Anderson Cooper 360

9-10 PM: Cuomo Prime Time

10-Midnight: CNN Tonight

 

Saturday

6-9 AM: New Day Saturday w/ Boris Sanchez + Christi Paul

9-10 AM: Smerconish

10-11 AM: Boris Sanchez + Christi Paul

11AM-3PM: Fredricka Whitfield

3-6 PM: Jim Acosta

6-9 PM: Pamela Brown

 

Sunday

6-8 AM: New Day Sunday w/ Boris Sanchez + Christi Paul

8-9 AM: Inside Politics Sunday

9-10 AM: State of the Union

10-11 AM: Fareed Zakaria GPS

11-Noon: Reliable Sources

12-1PM: SOTU Replay

1-2 PM: GPS Replay

2-3 PM: Fredricka Whitfield

3-6 PM: Jim Acosta

6-9 PM: Pamela Brown

 

[PTVNews 194]

I've noticed The Situation Room has been back to 2 hours recently with The Lead back to 1 hour. It's been when Jake Tapper has been off. Interesting choice that they choose to not have a fill in host do 2 hours though. I prefer Wolf anyways so I'm not complaining.