TMC
08-05-2025, 07:22 PM
...this summer
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/mailing-it-in-at-morning-joe-joe-and-mikas-summer-of-absence-speaks-volumes/
"Since Memorial Day, Morning Joe has often felt like Morning Guest Host," says Mediaite's Colby Hall. "Over the past two months, roughly two-thirds of the shows episodes have aired without one or often both of its marquee stars, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. For regular viewers, its become something of a parlor game: Which fill-in will be leading the table today? Will it be Willie Geist solo in the NYC studio, Jonathan Lemire capably holding down the fort, or Katty Kay playing the lead role?" As Hall notes, there summer absences is occurring as MSNBC undergoes a significant transformation with the upcoming launch of Versant, the new publicly traded cable network spun off from under the NBCU News Group umbrella. "Since Memorial Day, Morning Joe has aired on 49 business days," says Hall. "Both Scarborough and Brzezinski have appeared together on just 18 shows about 38% of the summer so far. On 19 days, or 40%, only one of the two lead hosts was present. And on 12 days 25% of the time neither host appeared at all. Brzezinski has been off for 26 days, representing 53% of the summer, while Scarborough has missed 18 days, or 37%. There are multiple ways to frame this: while one or both hosts showed up for 77% of episodes (37/49), a more telling figure is that for a majority of the summer 59% of the time (29/49) viewers saw either just one host or none at all. For a show that thrives on the dynamic between its co-hosts, the pattern is hard to ignore."
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/mailing-it-in-at-morning-joe-joe-and-mikas-summer-of-absence-speaks-volumes/
"Since Memorial Day, Morning Joe has often felt like Morning Guest Host," says Mediaite's Colby Hall. "Over the past two months, roughly two-thirds of the shows episodes have aired without one or often both of its marquee stars, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. For regular viewers, its become something of a parlor game: Which fill-in will be leading the table today? Will it be Willie Geist solo in the NYC studio, Jonathan Lemire capably holding down the fort, or Katty Kay playing the lead role?" As Hall notes, there summer absences is occurring as MSNBC undergoes a significant transformation with the upcoming launch of Versant, the new publicly traded cable network spun off from under the NBCU News Group umbrella. "Since Memorial Day, Morning Joe has aired on 49 business days," says Hall. "Both Scarborough and Brzezinski have appeared together on just 18 shows about 38% of the summer so far. On 19 days, or 40%, only one of the two lead hosts was present. And on 12 days 25% of the time neither host appeared at all. Brzezinski has been off for 26 days, representing 53% of the summer, while Scarborough has missed 18 days, or 37%. There are multiple ways to frame this: while one or both hosts showed up for 77% of episodes (37/49), a more telling figure is that for a majority of the summer 59% of the time (29/49) viewers saw either just one host or none at all. For a show that thrives on the dynamic between its co-hosts, the pattern is hard to ignore."