Ed Schultz Moving Back to MSNBC Weekdays

By Alex Weprin 

MSNBC is changing up its weekday lineup in a significant way, moving Ed Schultz from weekends back to weekdays.

Schultz will take over the 5 PM weekday slot starting next Monday, while Chris Matthews’  “Hardball” will now air only once per day at 7 PM. Before, “Hardball” aired at 5 PM, with a replay at 7 PM.

“Chris and the ‘Hardball’ team have been the cornerstone of our evening lineup, pulling double duty for us at both 5p and 7p for years,” wrote MSNBC president Phil Griffin in a note to staff obtained by TVNewser. “This move will help us enhance the flow of our weeknight programming and concentrate Chris’ audience to one key time period. And this allows us to bring Ed’s powerful voice back to the Monday-Friday schedule. Ed connects with our viewers and I’m happy to have him back five nights a week. I’ve been thinking about making this change for quite a while and I know now is the right time with the right shows.”

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RELATED: Media Beat – Ed Schultz’s Path from Football to Radio to TV

In March, MSNBC announced that Schultz would be taking his program from 8 PM weeknights to Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Schultz said at the time that he volunteered to make the switch. That said, the program did not do nearly as well on the weekends as it did during weekdays.

THR’s Marisa Guthrie spoke to Griffin about the move, with the MSNBC chief saying it “makes us whole” in early prime.

It is not yet clear what program will replace Schultz’s on MSNBC Saturday and Sunday.

Griffin’s full memo is below.

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM PHIL GRIFFIN

I wanted to share some exciting news with you.

Starting Monday, August 26, “The Ed Show” is moving back to weeknights, now at 5 p.m. ET. “Hardball with Chris Matthews” will move to one, strong run at 7 p.m. ET.

Chris and the “Hardball” team have been the cornerstone of our evening lineup, pulling double duty for us at both 5p and 7p for years. This move will help us enhance the flow of our weeknight programming and concentrate Chris’ audience to one key time period. And this allows us to bring Ed’s powerful voice back to the Monday-Friday schedule. Ed connects with our viewers and I’m happy to have him back five nights a week. I’ve been thinking about making this change for quite a while and I know now is the right time with the right shows.

The full press release is below. My thanks to Chris, Ed, John Reiss, James Holm and the “Hardball” and “The Ed Show” teams.

Enjoy the rest of the summer. We have a lot to look forward to this fall.

PHIL

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