Its been a while since I felt compelled to bring out the soap box, but the announced changes in CNN's daytime schedule seem to warrant dusting if off and making use of it. What's all the fuss about? Let's start by taking a look at an article from today's Los Angeles Times:
CNN is shaking up its afternoon lineup in the new year. Beginning Jan. 18, “The Situation Room” will start an hour later to make room for a new show dubbed “Rick’s List,” anchored by Rick Sanchez, that will air from noon to 2 p.m. PST. It will be followed by a two-hour “The Situation Room,” whose anchor, Wolf Blitzer, had until now been handling three live hours a day.
CNN executives declined to speak publicly about the move, but a spokeswoman that the change was made to bring more uniformity to the afternoon lineup. The shake-up also lessens the focus on political news, which is expected to be one of the main topics covered in the 4 p.m. PST hour when John King begins anchoring that time slot early next year. [Updated at 12:06 p.m.: Blitzer will continue to cover political news in "The Situation Room."]
[Updated at 12:24 p.m: Sanchez will also cover the top political stories of the day during his program, while the shows anchored by Blitzer and King will be based in Washington and have a strong political focus.]
“Rick’s List” is expected to incorporate Twitter, a tool Sanchez frequently uses. This morning, he tweeted that the show “will be full of newsmakers and thinkers we- and u- think are relevant to CNN. My access = your access.”
Blitzer, in turn, tweeted that he was fine about the change. “Our excellent team can focus on 2 solid hrs,” he wrote. “Less becomes more.”
In the short term, Blitzer will continue to anchor for three hours a day, as he’ll be substituting in the 4 p.m. PST time slot until King begins his new show. King replaces Lou Dobbs, who abruptly resigned from the network last month. There is still no word yet about who will take over for King on his Sunday show “State of the Union.”
Source: Rick Sanchez gets expanded show on CNN; 'The Situation Room' loses an hour [Updated]
I have to give credit to CNN's management for being consistent: with any tweak or change to the line up that they make that one could deem as an improvement (for instance Lou Dobbs parting ways with CNN and then turning over the 7PM hour to John King next year) they tend to follow it with another decision that just leaves one scratching their head and wondering "what exactly were they thinking?"
For the past four and a half years, The Situation Room has been one of the most consistent programs in CNN's daytime line up. Three hours of news, politics, and sprinkling of analysis and pundits. For me, this has been the "must see" program on CNN during the week. Earlier this year, the program was even expanded to included an hour on Saturday evening for a recap of the program's highlights for the week. This is the program that is now getting cut by an hour each day?
There are many perfectly logical reasons why CNN may have decided to make this cut.
- Maybe Wolf Blitzer wanted to cut down on the number of hours he spends on air? Maybe losing two hours a week at the beginning of 2009 worked out so well, that cutting back an additional five hours a week in 2010 makes perfect sense?
- Maybe this is CNN's way of pushing Blitzer out the door? (Although, admittedly, CNN is typically not so nice about pushing people out the door nor do they typically take years to accomplish it. )
- Maybe Blitzer is giving up an hour of the Situation Room, so that he can go back to working 7 days a week and revive Late Edition on Sundays when John King vacates State of the Union?
- Then there's the cost aspect: maybe CNN wants to limit the production costs at the DC bureau to three hours of live TV a day during the week. (Two hours of The Situation Room and one hour of John King)?
Of course, what really adds insult to injury is the hour Blitzer is losing is being given to Rick Sanchez. Who would have ever imagined that CNN would replace Blitzer with Sanchez? Think about that for a moment... they are replacing one of their best journalists/ anchors with the least capable anchor on staff. In what way does this make sense? If CNN wants "uniformity" in the afternoon lineup, wouldn't giving the two hour block to Don Lemon, TJ Holmes, Betty Nguyen, or Ali Velshi (all very good journalists/ news anchors) make more sense? Or how about giving the viewers in the US an hour or two of International programming (for instance, Back Story or Quest Means Business)? I don't understand CNN's fascination with Sanchez and "the twitter hour". The experiment of having Sanchez on at 3PM is one that should be abandoned and quickly forgotten instead of expanded into a two hour program.
NOTE: The views and opinions reflected in this post are those of Book Asylum's and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the other contributors to All Things CNN.
Book Asylum: I have to say I stand firmly on the soap box with you. I have written 2 previous posts about it, and it really makes NO SENSE.
ReplyDeleteBut think about this, NOTHING, CNN has done lately, makes any sense. It seems the worse you are, the more you're valued...there. Why that could be CNN's new slogan: The Worse We Get, the More Viewers WE Lose and WE COULD CARE LESS.
I'd like to think Wolf is taking over on Sundays because that's the way it used to be, but we may be in for new shock....a Sunday show hosted by none other than Lance Bass. Now that's what I call quality programming.
I agree 100 % . Rick Sanchez is not one of the
ReplyDeletebest anchors at CNN. Tj and Betty make more
sense they have personalities and are really
good anchors.
The Twitter dumb hour is the worst show on
ReplyDeleteCNN and Rick Sanchez does not deserve a 2
hour show.CNN is promoting it's worst anchor
hands down.
Two people can stop this right now. First,
ReplyDeleteJim Walton. Walton has managed to put the
right people in place to run HLN, CNN I
and CNN.com. The problem for him is CNN.
Walton has been with CNN from the beginning
and knows what good journalism means.
Then there is the Jeff Bewkes( Mr Time Warner).
Fire Jon Klein now. This should have never been
green lighted.IT is sad that Don Lemon, Betty
Nguyen and TJ Holmes are on weekends.
Jon Klein has officially made CNN a huge
laughing stock.
Does anyone at CNN realize that Rick Sanchez
ReplyDeleteis annoying and then some. Sing with me it's
a mistake. The LA Times article scares me,
add to that an item about CNN on ICN, which
makes this even more crazy.
Is Jon Klein trying to destroy CNN before he
ReplyDeleteis shown the door? I never thought this was a
good lead-in for the Sit Room. Now people
will turn from CNN sooner and not come back.
I agree it needs to be canceled not expanded.
It is the dumbest show ever.
It is a real shame that some of the better anchors
ReplyDeleteare being overlooked by someone who is probably
the worst anchor in all of cable news. No slogan
for CNN : The Worldwide News Loser.MSNBC got
rid of this guy, If Rick Sanchez could not last at
MSNBC how did he even get to be on CNN.
Jan 18th is the day the journalism will day on
CNN. My new cable news network is HLN. If
they would bother to take a look at what he
actually tweets. They would find out why no
one cares about what he thinks.
This stinks. Does this strike anyone as odd,
ReplyDeleteconsidering that there is no official press release
and no comments from CNN and when was the
last time Jon Klein made comments on anything.
Somehow I don't think this is permanent that it
is being used to fill time until CNN comes up
with some new shows. The problem is that once
the damage is done by Rick Sanchez it will be
hard to fix. I think Phil Griffin has one the chess
match because it is check mate. I say one month
out of this the Klein era ends at CNN.
At this point it is pretty obvious CNN does not
ReplyDeletecare about it's viewers. Rick Sanchez adds zero
to the equation.
This will not work. Nobody cares what Sanchez
ReplyDeletethinks. The people are in the drivers seat now
and CNN does not get it. You don't us Twitter
to comment on news stories. You use Twitter
to find news and tweet information. Social media
is for the masses not self absorbed journalist.
The nerve of this guy what he thinks is important.
Considering he is a lousy journalists, why even
go there.No matter how CNN tries to make Rick
Sanchez into a journalist they will fail. We all
know how bad this guy really is. Someone
mentioned Jeff Bewkes. He used to run HBO,
so if anyone should know bad acting when
they see it , Bewkes would know. He was the
man who brought us Sex In the City and The
Sopranos. Earlier this year Mashable did a
list of the types of people to avoid on Twitter.
Right at the top were political partisans and
self promoter. Which is al lRick Sanchez does.
Now that Elaine Quijano has jumped ship I
wonder how many others will follow because
CNN has fallen and likely will not get up. The
time of the it's all about me anchor is gone.
From the annoying sound effects to how many
times Sanchez tries to get is face on the air
it is not even close to news it is a joke.Jon
Klein is a danger to CNN.
If someone at CNN has half a brain they would
ReplyDeletebe searching for Jon Klein's replacement. He
is responsible for CNN troubles. Promoting
Rick Sanchez is grounds for him to be fired
now not later. Get a real news man like Rome
Hartman, who is doing great work running
BBC America. I makes CNN look like a news
parody channel because does anyone really
take Rick Sanchez seriously. this is not being
received positively and shouldn't be, this is
a blunder that will bring down CNN. The
last thing they need at the network is more
hot air.
Frankly, I can't understand all this rage against Rick Sanchez.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to disappoint you all, but Rick is absolutely my favorite CNN anchor -- for good reason.
After initially seeing the headline on HuffPo a few days and missing reading it, I made a Google search to enjoy Rick's expanded slot and ended up here to read all this.
My only problem with Rick's slot is that I am hardly able to watch it live because of the time of day, but the expanded time will increase my ability to watch his program.
Yes, there are those of us to whom Rick is the favorite CNN anchor!
Rick Sanchez is awful and using the word
ReplyDeletejournalist in connection with him is an insult.
This in no way will benefit CNN.
Sanchez is the reason I stopped watching MSNBC,
ReplyDeletenow he will be the reason I will quit watching CNN.
MSNBC just discovered the hard way that you do
not have someone rant for 2 hours. The move cost
them dearly and the same thing will happen with
CNN. Only thing is that MSNBC is making changes
like going with rotating solo anchors at noon and
moving some of the better known journalists at
NBC to add credibility to the line up. This will
hurt CNN big time. If you think the criticism
here is hard wait until you see the write ups.
It would be different if Rick Sanchez was
making waves but he can't even get people to
follow him on Twitter because all he does is
try to create buzz around him. It is not working
and never will.IF this is such a great move,
why is CNN management hiding.At this rate
CNN will not make it into the next decade.
CNN has officially run out of ideas.
In the age of FB and Youtube and Twitter
you actually don't need Sanchez to tell you
what is out there the news comes to you and
who is to say that what matters to Rick Sanchez
matters to me.
CNN is already falling behind HLN in the day
ReplyDeletedemo as well. This move will likely make sure
CNN end ups behind HLN & MSNBC during the
day as well.CNN needs to find a way to increase
it's audience not send them away.
Really, Rick Sanchez is the best that CNN can do
Book Asylum did a great job naming the real
journalists who should be given their shot with
a totally new news show. Enough with opinion
that is what is killing CNN now.
Rick Sanchez should not be given all this air
ReplyDeletetime on CNN. Name one memorable story he
ever did. He has some major issues with facts
and misinformation.
I was hoping that CNN would try an all female
ReplyDeleteanchor team for a couple hours.Sanchez is not
of the box thinking but more of the same ting.
I never liked the solo anchor format being used
during the day. It would have to be similar to
Morning Express with the same pace and speed
but news oriented. Rotate the anchors each week
with women from all of the CNN networks. That;s
radical not the same old stuff over and over again.
I would say start with perhaps Kyra Phillips, Alina
Cho and Fredericka Whitfield and someone from
CNN international. Since Christiane is doing her
own thing I am not sure if she would want to
be in the mix. One thing I like that ABC News
is doing now that Diane Sawyer is in the chair,
they are focusing more on the news and not
as much on the anchor. Hands down they had
the best story of the week. ABC told us about
a church in Vermont that was trying to sell
a special window to help those in need. It is
the most valuable item of the church and they
were willing to give it up for the greater good.
The response from viewers has been incredible.
Hey CNN suits there are now 2 female anchors
at the big 3 networks. When will you step up ?
Usually when things are bad the CNN news
ReplyDeletepresident gets fired. First Klein fails to act
on Lou Dobbs, now he gives Rick Sanchez
another hour. I am with you ANON 12:57
this is a bonehead decision. Maybe they
can't convince anyone to take the job since
Jon Klein has run CNN into the ground.
2:56 you might be on to something. MSNBC's
ReplyDeletenew anchor lineup is on Wikipedia. They seem
to have added more women. It will be Contessa
Brewer & Monica Novatny , the rotating anchors
at noon. David Shuster and Tamara Hall. Then
Norah O'donnell and Andrea Mitchell.WSNBC
will now have female anchors on at 2 and 3
pm. For a solid 5 hours CNN will not have a
female anchor. That is not smart.CNN needs
credible anchors leading into TSR. 3-5, 2
hours should be all women. 52 % of the US
population is now female. News organizations
need to realize women need to be targeted
in an effort to increase ratings. Rick Sanchez
it not a winner for CNN. Fresh faces added
to the lineup would have more impact.
MSNBC is moving away from a solo 2 hour
anchor. When it is 2 or 3 people on the
anchor team that is a little bit better.
Chances are you might like one of them.
Clearly a lot of viewers don't like Sanchez
so why make a move like this.
The attempted terror attack is exactly why you
ReplyDeletedon't have something like this for 2 hours. There
is a huge breaking news story and you have tweets
usually rants on the screen. The Twitter hour needs
to be canceled and not expanded.If there is breaking
news the last person CNN needs in the chair is Rick
Sanchez.
Book Asylum industry insiders are shaking
ReplyDeletetheir heads on this one. Jon Klein does not
have a clue, perhaps if Jim Walton actually
has time one day to sit through an hour of
the nonsense he would realize the agony
CNN is putting it's viewers through by
putting Rick Sanchez in the anchor chair.
The guy does not come across as genuine,
everything just seems so fake.
CNN needs to add some of their younger anchors
ReplyDeleteand reporters dayside. Bring is supporting players
for Heidi, Tony and Kyra. More Rick Sanchez is the
last thing CNN needs.Twitter is a real-time device,
reading tweets on air minimizes what Twitter is
all about.Current is a network geared toward
18-34 and this not how they use Twitter.CNN
breaking news is how you use Twitter and as
the blog says CNN won an award for that.
Please CNN go to college campuses or Silicon
Valley to find a social media hunco.There has
been times when I have seen TJ, Betty and
Alina say they only have cell phones.These
are the people that today's tech/media
savvy generation relate to. They don't
exactly trust big media and this is shows
like the Twitter hour is way, it is too cheesy.
Isn't this the same failed experiment that MSNBC
ReplyDeletejust tried and this is suppose to work with Rick
Sanchez at CNN.
We now know CNN is no longer a serious
ReplyDeletenews organization. Having Sanchez on for
2 hours is just stupid as the kids say these
days.
A couple weeks ago this blog posted an article
ReplyDeleteon CNN not having an experienced anchor on
the dayside and this is CNN's weak response,
Having Rick Sanchez on for two hours will drag
down the numbers for Wolf and John King;s new
show.
I agree. Rick Sanchez is a blow-hard, is particularly annoying, insensitive and overbearing.
ReplyDelete