“Panic Move?” “Chaos?” “Fast Track?”

The critics came out of the woodwork to respond to this morning’s post about Contessa Brewer, Kristine Johnson and Amy Robach. Some of the highlights:

> From an MSNBC insider: “So we’re swapping out one of our old lame women newsreaders for one of our new lame women newsreaders? This about sums up the chaos of daytime programming here. Somebody who just started three weeks ago gets promoted to the network so we can “improve” a radio show that we’re desperately trying to make look like a tv show. Daytime is lost, and all our bosses have succeeded at is aiming strong light at Imus revealing he’s actually 250 years old.”

> “This was a panic move to get Johnson off of MSNBC daytime where she was been abysmal both as an interviewer and a news reader. This move is also another chapter in the decline and fall of Contessa Brewer. Brought on to MSNBC daytime she got off to a horrendous start and was pushed to First Look when it became obvious she didn’t have the skill set to handle breaking news scenarios. However even at First Look Brewer failed to gain traction or cure her on air fumbles. The real question you should be asking is why are people like Brewer and Johnson hired for The Big Show when they clearly aren’t able to do the job once they get there?”

> Another e-mailer said Kristine Johnson is definitely not on the “fast track:” “Are you kidding me? I have watched her since she first started on MSNBC and she is very green. She does not project a lot of confidence in her ability. If you watched Imus you saw how uncomfortable Amy was with being asked things like how she feels about lesbians and how comfortable Contessa was with the format of the show. Given this and Johnson’s hideous performance I would say this is probably why the changes were made and not because someone is on the fast track.”