Shepard Smith’s primetime CNBC show has been canceled by the network which will be making the change in early 2023 as part of a “strategic realignment” under new leadership.
With the midterm elections promising a true shellacking for Democrats, conservatives are seeing an embarrassment of riches lately — Shep was never popular in the eyes of the right — and adding to that largess is the news this week that Don Lemon’s debut on “CNN This Morning” was flat as a pancake.
The cancellation comes two years after Smith abruptly left Fox News after having signed a new contract and subsequently joining CNBC to air “The News with Shepard Smith,” which was billed as a nonpartisan take on the news — seen as a liberal, Smith was never a great fit at Fox News, be it his virulent anti-Trump animus or the repeated clashing with opinion hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity.
CNBC President KC Sullivan, who took the reins in September, made the announcement Thursday in a memo to network employees, according to the Daily Mail.
“After spending time with many of you and closely reviewing the various aspects of our business, I believe we must prioritize and focus on our core strengths of business news and personal finance,” Sullivan wrote. “To that end, we have decided that The News with Shepard Smith will have its final newscast later this month.”
“‘The News’ set out on a bold mission of providing non-partisan, fact-based reporting on the most important stories of the day in the U.S. and around the world,” Sullivan added. “The quality journalism Shep and his team delivered each weeknight was exemplary and not lost on us or our 7 p.m. audience.”
Smith’s time slot will be filled with a business-focused program, Sullivan explained.
“I believe this decision will ultimately help to strengthen our brand and the value we provide our audiences. Change is difficult, particularly when talented good people are impacted,” Sullivan wrote.
He said that efforts will be made “to identify other potential opportunities for many of the affected employees.”
As for Don Lemon, he was booted from his primetime slot and moved to a new morning show to replace “New Day,” cohosting alongside Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, and their debut episode on Tuesday bombed.
“CNN This Morning” drew just 387,000 total viewers on Tuesday — the show they replaced, “New Day,” averaged 413,000 daily viewers in 2022 before it was canceled, according to Fox News.
When compared to MSNBC and Fox News, the results are even more dismal. MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” drew 793,000 viewers on Tuesday — sadly, given the show’s hyper-partisan fare — and “Fox & Friends” averaged 1.5 million on the same morning.
Nonetheless, CNN bristled at the negative coverage in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“There’s not a morning show on television today that was a ratings success on day one. Reporting on ratings failures or successes of an entirely new program after a single day is absurd and cheap. That’s not the way this works. We’re entirely focused on developing a smart, compelling and relevant show that’s already having outsized impact. Anyone pushing an alternative narrative knows what a threat this talent lineup is,” a CNN spokesperson said.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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