Joy Reid speaks during the 2024 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture™ Presented By Coca-Cola® at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on July 7, 2024, in New Orleans. Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
CNN
Joy Reid will host her final evening news show with MSNBC this week as part of a slate of programming changes by Rebecca Kutler, the network’s new president, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
According to sources, Kutler plans to replace “The ReidOut,” which has aired at 7 p.m. ET since 2020, with co-hosts from “The Weekend” — Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez.
“The Weekend,” a two-hour show airing on Saturday and Sunday mornings at 8 a.m. ET, improved total viewership during its time slot by 35%.
Before “TheReidOut,” Reid hosted the MSNBC weekend talk show “AM Joy” from 2016 to 2020.
Despite the change in programming, MSNBC is maintaining its progressive roots with President Donald Trump back in office. Since his inauguration, MSNBC’s viewership has been up 77% during primetime hours and 34% in total day viewers.
A source told CNN that Kutler is expected to announce additional programming changes to multiple MSNBC shows.
A network spokesperson declined to comment.
Alex Wagner, who hosts “Alex Wagner Tonight” Tuesday through Friday at 9 p.m. ET as a substitute for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” will not return to the primetime slot since taking on special assignment coverage. A source says Wagner will remain with the network as a correspondent.
Jen Psaki, whose show launched in 2023 with the help of Kutler, will occupy one of the primetime hours during the week, sources said. “Inside with Jen Psaki” is currently the network’s most-watched weekend program. Psaki, who was a political contributor for CNN from 2017 to 2020, served as White House press secretary under former President Joe Biden.
It’s possible that Psaki could take the 9 p.m. ET timeslot after Rachel Maddow returns to one day a week, wrapping up the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency.
Kutler is also expected to recruit Eugene Daniels, Politico’s White House correspondent, and Melissa Murray, a law professor at New York University.
“This is going to be a really exciting time but also a challenging time. I think it’s important that we as leaders are honest about that and about the challenges ahead. Our jobs are hard on a normal day, and these are not normal times,” Kutler said in a February meeting with network leaders.
Kutler, who officially became the president of MSNBC on February 12, was hired in 2022 by former MSNBC president Rashida Jones. Kutler previously spent 20 years at CNN.
Kutler is tasked with steering MSNBC amid a corporate spinoff from cable giant Comcast.
“In the short time that Rebecca was the interim president, it became clear to me that she has the big-picture strategic view and the right leadership skills to ensure MSNBC delivers on its brand promise and is positioned for growth during a time of industry change,” said Mark Lazarus, CEO of SpinCo (the company which now owns MSNBC), when naming Kutler president in February.
