Former CNN Crossfire host Tucker Carlson’s new MSNBC show is not only apparently in search of an audience but losing the thimble-full audience it has.
“The Situation” dipped to its lowest ratings point on Wednesday night, averaging 148,000 viewers, and scratching in the 25-54 demo with 39,000. A story about Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC ratings could be approached from two directions: “No one wants to watch The Situation!” or “Carlson isn’t going to find an audience overnight.”
It notes the trend:
June 13: 452,000 / 177,000
June 14: 231,000 / 87,000
June 15: 198,000 / 77,000
June 16: 202,000 / 79,000
June 17: 172,000 / 89,000
June 20: 194,000 / 92,000
June 21: 172,000 / 52,000
June 22: 148,000 / 39,000
The situation for MSNBC is that the situation sucks.
Some MSNBC bigwigs probably want to strangle Carlson with his tie — except they can’t (it’s a bow tie).
TUCKER: Offending Don Imus when your show debuted wasn’t the wisest idea in the world. Do you think you could attract a bigger audience if you moved to public access?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.