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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

MSNBC Unfurls Excellent New Lineup - But Why are They Keeping Their Lame "Doc-Block"?

MSNBC announced the following changes in its schedule, to take effect this coming Monday, March 17 -


.David Gregory, NBC News' Chief White House Correspondent, will anchor Race for the White House, a new daily show airing from 6-7pm
.NBC News' Andrea Mitchell will anchor MSNBC each weekday afternoon from 1-2pm
.Countdown with Keith Olbermann, on at 8pm, will now re-air a second time at 10pm, in addition to a third time at 2am.
.MSNBC's "doc block" will now air weeknights from 11pm-2am.
.Live with Dan Abrams will re-launch as Verdict with Dan Abrams, from 9-10pm.
.Tucker Carlson's show is out, but he will continue on MSNBC as Senior Campaign Correspondent.


These all look like excellent moves. With the strength of NBC regulars Brian Williams and Tim Russert, along with Tom Brokaw on election nights, MSNBC has the best election coverage in the business. David Gregory joining the weeknight lineup of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Dan Abrams makes a lot of sense. And when you add to that the stature and savvy of political commentators like Patrick Buchanan and Joe Scarborough, MSNBC is unbeatable.

But there's one thing I've never understood about MSNBC, and still don't get in the new lineup: why is MSNBC alienating the audience for its political coverage with its "doc block"? I know that I have dialed away from MSNBC many times when I wanted to see politics, and MSNBC had yet another show about life behind some prison bars....

Moving the doc-block to 11pm is a step in the right direction. My suggestion: move it to three o'clock in the morning, or off the network altogether.

Especially in an election year, the "Doc Block" is not the way to go...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The new schedule sucks if you are on the west coast, they are forcing us to pick between Olbermann and Stewart. I liked the 9PM time for Olbermann, and why only one hour between broadcasts? They don't seem to have the right schedule on their website, either. It says:
8pm - 9pm Countdown with Keith Olbermann (cc)
9pm-10pm Verdict with Dan Abrams(cc)
10pm - 11pm Countdown with Keith Olbermann (cc)
11pm - Mid MSNBC Documentaries (cc)
Mid - 1am Countdown with Keith Olbermann (Mon-Thu) (cc)
1am - 2am MSNBC Documentaries (cc)
2am - 3am MSNBC Documentaries (cc)

As for doc block, I kind of like them, but I realize a lot of it is cheezy. The prison docs are actually good, the recycled Datelines pure cheese (by the way Lockup is on Hulu, maybe they will add Countdown at some point).

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