Rachel on Hiatus

I heard this weekend and then she confirmed it last night, Rachel Maddow is going on hiatus this Thursday, for at least two months.  She's going to be working on a movie based on her book about Spiro Agnew, and also developing some kind of special multi-part podcast/report thingy.

Plus, she's undoubtedly exhausted from doing her nightly show for, what is it now, thirteen years?

All good things must end.  She was given her start by Keith Olbermann.  Maybe he'll come back and sub for her?

Her books have been stellar, well researched and fluid (though I haven't read "Bagman," the one about Agnew.). I don't know when she has the time to write books while hosting a 5-night per week, or more recently 4-night per week news show.  And you can tell, she doesn't read a teleprompter.  She's actually puts the show together herself, with staff.

So, I dunno.  I sometimes watch Chris Hayes, I sometimes watch Brian Williams, I sometimes watch Lawrence O'Donnell, but I'm not as loyal to any of them as Rachel.  I may be watching a lot less MSNBC in the future.

Yeah, we saw this coming. Starting next month Rachel will appear on Mondays only.. Can't say I blame her. The news is almost always bad.

I can't even watch as often as she broadcasted.

Rachel's absence is going to torpedo MSNBC.

My suggestions:

• Keith Olbermann
  
• Maya Wiley
  
• Al Franken
  
• Natasha Bertrand
  
• Mary Trump
  
• Elie Mystal
  
• Whoopie Goldberg
  
• Ron Reagan Jr.
  
• Jen Psaki
  
• Karine Jean-Pierre
  

The replacement for TRMS on Tues-Fri is called "Prime" and is hosted by Ali Velshi, produced by Rachel's staff, and uses essentially the same approach as Rachel: attempt to find some historical precedents, some angle on the current headline news that nobody else is covering.

Having seen two episodes now, I can report: meh.  It's okay.  Ali is not as engaging as Rachel and, as much as I hate to admit it, the personality of the presenter DOES matter to me.

Ali had on Stacey Abrams as his guest tonight, and god damn!  Why can't she be president?  I LOVE Stacey.  Whip smart, articulate, straight talking....

NoCoPilot wrote:

• Jen Psaki
  

Yes PLEASE

The winner of Rachel's timeslot was Alex Wagner, who's okay but I'm reserving judgment.

Her FIRST show, tonight, STARTED OUT with a major technical flub, where she was talking about one story but the control room was showing video from another story.

So she pretty quickly transitioned, after making some faces at the floor manager.

You know, it makes her human. I almost hope she's looser and more approachable than Rachel -- who was so professional all the time that she was a little scary sometimes.

Yup, Alex has gone “off script” with asides several times. It makes her show a lot looser, more conversational, more entertaining. Despite the flubs it was a fun hour.

Or maybe, oddly, because of them.