Joy Reid Replacing Melissa Harris-Perry on MSNBC Weekends

The Melissa Harris-Perry TV show on MSNBC was over as of late February. Whether it was cancelled by the network or the host herself is a matter of opinion. After being preempted for a while, Perry refused to continue hosting, when MSNBC wanted to radically change the format of the weekend morning talk show.

Now Joy Ann Reid has been tapped to host a new, still untitled show in Perry’s old slot. MSNBC cancelled her last show, The Reid Report, in February 2015 — just about a year before Perry and MSNBC parted ways. Back in September the cable news outlet removed Rev. Al Sharpton’s daily program, PoliticsNation, from the weekday schedule and shifted it to Sunday mornings at 8:00am. Back  in July, it cancelled NOW with Alex Wagner. As a result, MSNBC has come under fire for reducing airtime of minorities and women.

Harris-Perry tweeted her congratulations to Reid, saying, “Congratulations to my friend, my colleague, my sister in every way! @JoyAnnReid you betta slay!”

 

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Congratulations to my friend, my colleague, my sister in every way! @JoyAnnReid you betta slay!

— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) April 30, 2016

 

She later tweeted a selfie with Reid, at the White House Correspondents Dinner, on Saturday, with the caption: “You better know @JoyAnnReid and MHP are in #Formation at #NerdProm.”

 

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You better know @JoyAnnReid and MHP are in #Formation at #NerdProm pic.twitter.com/YxGUENtKXo

— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) May 1, 2016

 

Here is more on Reid’s new show, from Deadline:

 

Reid’s untitled show will “tackle the most important news and political topics of the week and, along with a rotating panel of journalists, will explore how these issues shape the country,” MSNBC said of the new program.

“MSNBC viewers crave not only the facts, but also in-depth discussion and analysis from a range of perspectives,” MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in today’s announcement. “There is no one better equipped than Joy to lead this new project, and create a place for the kind of unique discussion our audience has come to expect.”

Said Reid: “We are a country of too much talk and too little conversation. We talk past our invisible divides of race and class, ideology and region, rather than taking them on. Saturday and Sunday mornings will be a place to talk politics and do good journalism while bringing diverse, smart and accomplished voices to the table.

“Melissa did a show that was incredibly valuable” but her new show “will fill the space with something new, something compelling, and something that adds to the conversation.”

 

 

What do you think? Were you a fan of Melissa Harris-Perry’s show? Did you watch The Reid Report? Do you plan to tune in weekends at 10:00am for Reid’s new show? Tell us.