Why I Find Big Ed's Demotion To Weekends Troubling

[KharmaTrain]

74. Sorry...No Grand Conspriacy Here...

If they wanted Ed gone, they wouldn't be putting him on the weekends...they'd do like they did with Olbermann and eat the contract and keep him on the "shelf" so no other network could or would hire him.

They had O'Donnell on at 8 after Olbermann was fired and his ratings were horrible...he and the format of his show has done far better at 10...thus if it an't broke, don't fix it. MSNBC is definitely "catering" to their advertisers...it's how they make the money to pay Rachel, Chris and the hundreds of other salaries of those who put the network on. Running a news operation is very people intensive and the more revenue your network can earn the more it will grow. I see the fact they're putting Ed on over the weekends as a positive sign that the network is looking to jetison the prison shows and focus further on developing programming and new talent.

Hayes is very good at 7am on Saturday morning, but there's no bet he'll connect at 7pm. I like Chris and wish him well but from all I've read and heard from my media publications and contacts this was Ed's decision and Chris was plugged in as a quick replacement. While he wife may be have beaten her battle with cancer, you never fully recover. My other half went through a similar situation last year and, fortunately, she's doing well, but there's a mental as well as a physical healing that is ongoing...I applaud Ed for truly putting family ahead of career and knew that he had to be feeling real low when he was thousands of miles away when his other half had to go for another treatment or check up. You may not have noticed but he was doing many of his programs from Minneapolis in recent weeks rather than heading to New York. The travel and hours were taking a toll.

No question MSNBC wants a younger audience...and I hope they do. I'd prefer them watching Rachel than any of the airheads on Chicken Noodle Nuze or the morons at Faux. Change in the media is ongoing...and the pace and pressures are intense. Phil Griffin has done a masterful job of building MSNBC into a strong alternative to the other networks and I see nothing but positives here...Chris' weekend spot will probably give an opportunity to a new talent to be developed...