ABC’s chief legal analyst and former MSNBC host and general manager Dan Abrams is joining NewsNation as the host of a primetime show, set to air weeknights.
NewsNation will launch Dan Abrams Live on Monday, September 27 at 8 p.m. ET.
“Dan Abrams is the epitome of the pure, common sense approach to journalism envisioned when NewsNation launched last September,” says NewsNation president Michael Corn, who knows Abrams well from his ABC News days. “He brings unparalleled expertise to our primetime line-up and emphasizes our ongoing commitment to help engaged viewers gain a better understanding of the day’s most controversial and complicated news stories. He has a fresh, no-holds-barred approach to covering and analyzing the news, and his credibility is unquestioned.”
Abrams has worn many hats over his media career. He joined NBC as a legal correspondent in 1997, going on to host MSNBC’s The Abrams Report and the Verdict with Dan Abrams while at one point general-managing the cable news outlet. Abrams left NBC in 2011 to become chief legal analyst at ABC, where he also served as co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline. From 2016 to 2020, he hosted A&E’s Live PD, which for a time was cable TV’s No. 1 entertainment series among adults 18-49.
“Joining NewsNation is a welcome, natural fit for me,” Abrams said in a statement. “Too much of cable news is polluted by partisanship with shows focused on indoctrinating viewers, unabashedly cheering for one side or another. We are committed to presenting independent-minded analysis and opinion on politics, media, and the most important stories of the day, exposing hypocrisy on all sides so viewers can make up their own minds. Always fact-based, sometimes surprising, but never agenda driven—you might call it a cable news show for the rest of us.”
Abrams is the newest on-air addition to NewsNation primetime. Former Fox News correspondent Leland Vittert joined NewsNation back in May, and his primetime show launches today in the 8 p.m. ET slot. Vittert will move to a different slot when Abrams’ show debuts on the 27th.
The Chicago-based national cable news outlet is also launching a live three-hour national morning newscast that will be hosted by former GMA weekend anchor and ABC News correspondent Adrienne Bankert.
Morning in America launches Sept. 27 at 7 a.m. ET.
“I’m excited to bring a relatability to morning news that connects with the audience like never before,” Bankert said in a statement. “This show will be a conversation, putting stories in context and getting behind the headlines. And we are going to have fun. Even if people wake up on the so-called ‘wrong side of the bed,’ I want them to turn on the TV and be not only more informed but feel better, even happier watching us. I believe we are called to a higher standard at NewsNation — to offer a variety of viewpoints across America and give dignity to every voice. That’s what you’ll find on Morning in America five days a week.”
As of now, NewsNation airs weeknights from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET, with encore presentations until 3 a.m. ET Monday through Friday. On weekends the network airs original newscasts from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET. followed by encore presentations of Ashleigh Banfield‘s 10 p.m. program.
Ratings for NewsNation have been very poor so far, and The New York Times reported back in March that some staffers expressed concern about the editorial direction of the network due to the involvement of Bill Shine, the former Fox News co-president and one-time Trump administration official who had been hired as a consultant to the network in February. Multiple top editors quit NewsNation not long after Shine joined.
In May, owner Nexstar Media brought in former Good Morning America senior ep Michael Corn to run the news operation, while former Fox News executive Cherie Grzech joined NewsNation in June as vp of news and managing editor.