Despite her intention to focus more of her time on films, books, documentaries and podcasts, Rachel Maddow keeps getting tangled in MSNBC‘s primetime grid.
Maddow, who scaled back anchoring duties after the spring of 2022, holding forth only on Mondays, will return to five nights a week at that hour as part of a broader move by MSNBC to draw viewership to its coverage of the first 100 days of the Trump administration. Alex Wagner, who anchors 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, will take on a special assignment: traveling the U.S. and overseas in a bid to talk to both newsmakers tied to and people affected by Trump polices during his critical first weeks in office.
“The idea is to give MSNBC viewers a full, 360-degree view of what’s happening in the country in a way that you don’t necessarily get in the studio,” says Wagner, during an interview. Both she and Maddow are expected to return to their regular roles after April 30.
The moves will jostle MSNBC’s primetime schedule as the NBCUniversal-backed outlet has been grappling with viewership declines since the 2024 election. Between the election and the end of 2024, MSNBC’s primetime audience between the ages of 25 and 54 — the demographic most prized by advertisers in news programming — fell 65%, according to data from Nielsen. There has been concern that the network, which specializes in progressive opinion programming, is suffering from viewer fatigue after Donald Trump won election to a second term in office. A decision by MSNBC morning hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to meet with President-elect Trump has spurred theories about backlash from MSNBC’s liberal base.
CNN has also seen viewership fall noticeably in the same time frame. Meanwhile, Fox News Channel in December captured 71% of the cable-news audience.
MSNBC has seen ratings drop in past presidential elections in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, and executives believe audience trends have begun to improve in recent weeks. They are also encouraged by recent digital activity around its content on outlets such as YouTube.
“There has been exhaustion, over the last several months in particular. This has been an election cycle unlike any other,” says Wagner. “Having said that, I do think we are on the cusp of some incredible, consequential moves. I believe the American public wants to see that and needs to see that.”
Her journeys through what her MSNBC reports will call “Trumpland” aren’t looking to indulge in what has by now become a cable-news standby: interviewing MAGA die-hards who support debunked claims about news events or national policy. Instead, Wagner hopes she can engage with people in serious fashion. “This is really critical to understand how the left can be more responsive to that, and ultimately win the argument,” she says.
She will tap prior experience being in the field, both for MSNBC during the recent election cycle and from working on “The Circus,” the Showtime documentary series that gave viewers an on-the-ground look at how elections are won and lost.
A cable-news outlet’s primetime schedule has in past years largely remained inviolate, except when anchors and networks part ways. Under Rashida Jones, MSNBC’s president, the network has experimented with new concepts. Jen Psaki, who anchors a Sunday program, also holds forth on Monday nights at 8, giving host Chris Hayes a schedule like Wagner’s — Tuesdays through Fridays. MSNBC has also tested programs that air separate originals on the Peacock streaming hub and the MSNBC weekend schedule.
Some of those new ideas have made Maddow a more frequent primetime presence than many had previously envisioned. She also leads a schedule-busting concept known internally as “The Avengers” that MSNBC uses on nights of exceptional news. Maddow sits for multiple hours at a dais with a shifting lineup of MSNBC personalities that range from Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace to Ari Melber and Stephanie Ruhle.
“I made a promise that when you need me, I’ll be there,” Maddow told Variety late last year about her appearances on MSNBC beyond her regular Monday duties.
Other hosts will weave new elements into the mix during Trump’s first weeks in the Oval Office. Jen Psaki will launch “The Blueprint with Jen Psaki,” a new podcast that examines the future for the Democratic Party after a brutal election season. Chris Hayes will debut a new recurring segment, “Here is What is True,” that will scrutinize misinformation tied to news coming out of Washington and how it affects political discourse.
Wagner’s reports may crop up across the MSNBC schedule, as well as in specials, on digital platforms and through live events. “We are building the plane on the runway,” says Wagner as her journey looms. Still, she expects to be back at 9 p.m. when her assignment ends. “You can’t be in the field all the time.”
