MSNBC has canceled daily political talk show Connected Coast to Coast after a nine month run, and has pulled the plug on weekend entertainment shows MSNBC at the Movies and MSNBC Entertainment Hot List after 10 month runs apiece, a network representative confirmed.
Connected, hosted by Richard Nixon biographer Monica Crowley and political analyst Ron Reagan, launched in February, running twice daily. Reagan and Crowley contributed to blogs and featured videos from citizen journalists. In September, the 5 p.m. rerun was cut and Hardball ran in its place. MSNBC at the Movies ran Saturdays at noon and 5 p.m. and MSNBC Entertainment Hot List ran Sundays at noon at 5 p.m. No word yet on what will fill Connected’s noon timeslot, but an internal staff memo from MSNBC President Rick Kaplan promised “exciting new programming at noon” would be announced soon.
The moves come after MSNBC’s recent announcement of a new news/debate program from Maury Povich and Connie Chung. The show, per the staff memo, will double MSNBC’s “live or topical” weekend news programming, which will now run from 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (the Connie/Maury show will be live-to-tape).
Staffers from the canceled shows will be reassigned to other programs and Reagan and Crowley will remain at MSNBC in a yet-to-be-determined capacity, said a network representative. “It’s all a game of musical chairs,” he said of the staffing.
