MSNBC Cancels Tucker Carlson's Show

UPDATE: David Gregory will headline a show in Tucker's old timeslow. Read about the changes here.

ORIGINAL ITEM: TVNewser is reporting that MSNBC will announce Monday that Tucker Carlson's TV show is being canceled:

Insiders tell TVNewser Tucker Carlson's 6pmET show Tucker is getting the axe, but Carlson stays on as a political contributor to all MSNBC shows at least through the 2008 election. The official announcement, expected tomorrow, will include details about who will replace Tucker at 6pmET as well as other political programming additions. Sources say the network is going to beef up its schedule with more NBC News talent.

In recent days, Jossip, as well as other blogs, ratcheted up the talk that Tucker would be replaced "for a new project." In its 33-month run, Carlson's show has had two names, four time slots and multiple formats. At 6pmET, it builds on its Harbdall lead-in on some days, but loses audience on others.

Keep reading.

Michael Calderone at the Politico spoke with Carlson Sunday night, who confirmed that MSNBC canceled his show:

Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show "Tucker" has been canceled, with an announcement from the network coming tomorrow.

I spoke with Carlson this evening, and the host confirmed reports on media blogs in the past few days about the show getting canceled. But otherwise, Carlson declined comment at this time.

Carlson was on his way to New York where he'll appear on Joe Scarborough's "Morning Joe" at around 6:30. Have a feeling Scarborough will bring it up then.

The move is hardly unexpected. In November, the New York Observer reported that Tucker's days at the network were numbered:

Rumors have been flying recently that Tucker Carlson could soon be on the way out at MSNBC. In a report that aired this morning on NPR, Phil Griffin, a senior vice president at the cable network, described Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as part of the MSNBC "brand". Asked whether Mr. Carlson was also part of that brand, Mr. Griffin replied: "He is right now."

Comments

[ZippityDont]

Figures.
Just last week I bought into the Fidelity Bow-Tie sector fund. Crap.

Can't say I'll miss the little fella though.

[Mauiloa]

One thing is for certain. In today's media climate, conservative mouthpieces like Tucker Carlson will always find a place to resurface.

They've been trying to bury Dennis Miller for years, yet like the undead, he claws his way back to the surface and soon he's spewing his "oh-so-clever" venom on yet another media outlet.

[loratora]

You're so right with the "oh-so-clever" comment. I think the word "snarky" was coined expressly for him. When I tell my husband the news, he's going to jump for joy - he has to leave the room when Tucker appears. What I object to about Tucker is the way he deliberately and sometimes blatantly spins quotes from politicos he disagrees with so as to alter their true intent. But most of all, he's both a phony AND a bully. His diatribes against Hillary have been continuous and particularly nasty. Yet, when she suprised him by appearing on Crossfire after winning her Senate race in NY the first time, he practically slobbered all over her. And time and again, his arguments end with the words "and YOU know it" - a debating tactic that is weak at best, not to mention juvenile. Whenever I'm particularly annoyed by one of his comments (which is daily) I just picture his efforts on Dancing With the Stars and I have a good laugh.

[RavagesOfTime]

As much as I'd love to see Rachel Maddow get the slot, what reason do we have to believe that MSNBC isn't going to cower in fear of the Right-Wing Media Machine?

Joe Scarborough has to work his ass off to keep his sense of decency and rationale in check, so they won't come after him, and we all know Olbermann's on the top of the list.

[mrcontinental]

What the hell took so long?

[rjean]

well duh mrcon................................good question because we know pmsnbc cant have a conservative voice amongst their left wing loons like chrissy... blabberman ...dirty david schuster....dan abrahms......scar faced mitchell......and a host of other hot air balloons....................

tucker was the only sane person on that network.....

why would you work for scum like msnbc anyway tuck..........................better days are ahead...and greener fields.................

[ErnestineBass]

Soooo...now the smarmy teevee dinner heir-ball DOESN'T have a show?

WooooHoooooo!

[lvogt]

I too would love to see Rachel Maddow get a show. She is the best informed and most articulate progressive out there and she's completely honest. To those who bemoan a true progressive on TV I can only ask why not? Are only conservatives to be heard? Yes, Olberman is liberal but there aren't many others.

Even though Matthews irritates at times he has more antiwar sentiment on his show and holds the Bush people accountable on a regular basis more than most on TV. I think people should keep that in mind even when he blurts out something you don't agree with. I don't think he's ever intentionally dishonest like the FOX propagandists. I think his views are both liberal and conservative on different issues although it's difficult to make the case that being anti-this-war is liberal. The war was just a huge mistake and a disaster and people shouldn't think that because someone is taking the Bush admin to task that makes them liberal. Even conservatives can see he's a catastrophe as a President. They just generally won't publicly admit it.

[Crozier]

It is interesting that Tucker Carlson and Anderson Cooper have their own programmes. One is the gay scion of the Cornelius Vanderbilt clan, and son of Gloria Vanderbilt Cooper. He is closeted for the programme and attempts to conceal a liberal prejudice. Of course, you do not have to conceal a conservative bias. That is a plus.

Tucker Carlson is not as blueblood as Anderson. No Ivy League background but equally impressive., He is the scion of the Pillsbury Foods family. Thank God, the Buckley clone in his own mind, complete with bowtie, shows what happens when greedy families produce greedy offspring.

[cheneyhasawarmachine]

class warfare much?

[Tyrione]

He is one of the sons of Richard Warner Carlson, a former banker, Los Angeles local news anchor, U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles, director of the U.S. Information Agency, and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. His mother is the former Patricia Caroline Swanson. He has one sibling, Buckley Swanson Peck Carlson. Carlson's maternal grandmother, Roberta Fulbright Swanson, was a sister of U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright.

Carlson attended St. George's School, a boarding school in Middletown, Rhode Island. After graduation, he majored in history at the private liberal arts Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he left before receiving a degree in 1992.

His Mother is the heir to the Swanson Food fortune.

[InofTouch]

Tucker is still employ by MSNBC even though is show is over ?!

[transendentilist]

Bye, bye Tucker. Can't say I'm sorry to see you go. I never watched your show anyhoo!

[SpaghettiWorshipper]

This sucks. I love Tucker. It's so rare to have a real, principled, libertarian styled conservative on TV anymore to counter the impression that all conservativism has to be some comination of bigotedness and neo-con ideology. Blegh. Tucker was the man.

[Horst]

MSNBC should be canceled...

[desmirl]

At least 24 hours have passed since the announcement of the cancellation. So, the question is: Tucker who?

[hydenorhare]

" ... a senior vice president at the cable network, described Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as part of the MSNBC "brand."

Boy, that's no lie. It's the DNC brand. Hugo Chavez carries the same marking.

[YWC]

Seriously...How do any of these guys get a job?

[lynnjss]

Good....now they can fire Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews and start over. Rachel Maddow would be great.

[Marrob]

WHAT TOOK SO LONG????