Mika Brzezinski: The ‘Bitter Housewife’ of Morning TV

By Merrill Knox 

Mika Brzezinski says she spent 20 years “trying to be perky like the beauty queens on TV” before finding her footing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” The self-described “bitter housewife” of morning television talks about how she came to be Joe Scarborough‘s co-host in the New York Times Magazine:

As the legend of “Morning Joe” goes, you were reading newsbreaks on MSNBC, and Scarborough sought you out because friends told him you sounded sarcastic whenever you’d say, “Now back to ‘Scarborough Country.’ ” Why so dismissive?

Because it was stupid, silly cable TV. And I was bored, and I was a little bitter because CBS had fired me, and it was fun. I would be on the phone with my friends, and then I’d be like, “Hold on a second.” Then I’d say, “Here’s the news, blah, blah, blah,” read it with perfection, and be like, “Now back to ‘Scarborough Country.’ ” Sort of like, What is that? I’d never seen “Scarborough Country,” because I would be busy doing my bills.

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