Bad news for liberal stars Joe Scarborough and Mike Brzezinski of “Morning Joe”: They’re losing an hour of their key primetime slot.
MS NOW — the liberal cable network formerly known as MSNBC — announced a huge lineup overhaul Wednesday, stripping an hour from its flagship morning show and upending their primetime block as the struggling network tries to stop years of plummeting ratings losses.
MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler announced the changes on the network’s daily call on Wednesday morning.
“Morning Joe,” once the crown jewel of the network’s lineup, will be cut from four hours to three, airing from 6 to 9 a.m. Jonathan Lemire, who had served as co-anchor during the 9 a.m. hour, will shift to the 8 a.m. slot.
The vacated 9 a.m. hour goes to Stephanie Ruhle, who is leaving her late-night slot hosting “The 11th Hour” to star in a new morning show focused on money and politics. Ali Velshi will take over “The 11th Hour,” while Jacob Soboroff steps in to cover Velshi’s weekend duties.
In primetime, Chris Hayes returns to anchor the 8 p.m. hour on Mondays, eliminating the extra Monday primetime slot previously occupied by “The Weeknight.” Alicia Menendez departs “The Weeknight” for a new afternoon show, with Luke Russert joining Symone Sanders-Townsend and Michael Steele in the evening lineup.
Anchor Ana Cabrera has been fired from the network entirely.
“I am truly grateful for my time at MS NOW, for my wonderful colleagues, my amazing team that works so hard every day, and for you, the viewers who’ve put your trust in me to serve you through this most meaningful work,” Cabrera said.
Kutler insisted the shakeup is not a cost-cutting move.
“Overall, we expect to have more people working at MS NOW by the end of 2026 than we do today,” she wrote in her memo to staff.
The numbers tell the truth.
MS NOW’s primetime viewership averaged roughly 923,000 viewers in 2025, a crash of 25 percent year over the year. Fox News averaged 2.72 million primetime viewers over the same period. The network’s 25-to-54 demographic, the most coveted by advertisers, fell by nearly 40 percent.
It comes six months after MSNBC’s controversial rebranding to MS NOW.