MSNBC Ups Rachel Maddow to Five Nights, Sends Alex Wagner Into Field for Trump’s First 100 Days

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Despite her intention to focus more of her time on films, books, documentaries and podcasts, Rachel Maddow keeps getting tangled in MSNBC‘s primetime grid.

Maddow, who scaled back anchoring duties after the spring of 2022, holding forth only on Mondays, will return to five nights a week at that hour as part of a broader move by MSNBC to draw viewership to its coverage of the first 100 days of the Trump administration.

Alex Wagner, who anchors 9 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, will take on a special assignment: traveling the U.S. and overseas in a bid to talk to both newsmakers tied to and people affected by Trump polices during his critical first weeks in office. “The idea is to give MSNBC viewers a full, 360-degree view of what’s happening in the country in a way that you don’t necessarily get in the studio,” says Wagner, during an interview.

Both she and Maddow are expected to return to their regular roles after April 30. The moves will jostle MSNBC’s primetime schedule as the NBCUniversal-backed outlet has been grappling with viewership declines since the 2024 election.