Fox News Plans ‘Irreverent’ Late-Night Show at 11 PM With Greg Gutfeld

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorKayleigh McEnany, a White House Press Secretary during the Trump administration whose performance in the role drew criticism, has joined Fox News as a contributor, the network announced Tuesday. Details were revealed during an on-air interview with Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner.McEnany isn’t the first Trump administration official to take an on-air role with the Fox Corp.-backed outlet.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorGeorge Stephanopoulos and David Muir will start to split breaking-news duties at ABC News, a new effort by the Walt Disney unit to rework an unorthodox arrangement involving two of its top anchors.Under a new structure, Muir will largely handle special reports and news of national importance in the afternoon and evening hours, while Stephanopoulos will shepherd similar efforts in the morning, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorLots of unexpected things can happen in the wee hours of the morning. But NBC is keeping at least one element constant.The network recently renewed its contract with Seth Meyers to host “Late Night,” the post-midnight perennial that has been on the air since David Letterman launched it in 1982.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMehdi Hasan, the political analyst who has demonstrated a knack for producing viral discussions, will bring his savvy conversational skills to MSNBC, in the first programming change at the NBCUniversal outlet since Rashida Jones took oversight earlier this month.Hasan has been hosting a lively program for NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming-video service, and the intensity of his following proved too alluring for MSNBC executives to ignore.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorOne of the nation’s most prominent TV companies intends to — finally — stop selling local commercials based on long-used TV ratings.NBCUniversal announced in 2019 that planned to shift all transactions for local ad campaigns to impressions-based deals, but granted additional time to certain clients and agencies who needed to evaluate what the move might mean to their operations.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorMany kids love to watch TV, but have little desire to learn the intricacies of the business behind it. Nickelodeon aims to change that dynamic.The ViacomCBS kids-media giant will host a showcase on March 18 at 4 p.m., all part of the advertising-sales session known as TV’s “upfront” market.  The presentation aims to lure many of the advertising and media-buying executives Nickelodeon needs to fuel its operations.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNBC has stocked its Peacock streaming-video hub with a handful of late-night-style series.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThis Saturday-morning news show is supposed to look like the ones that precede it Monday through Friday. It doesn’t.Co-anchor Jeff Glor isn’t wearing a tie and his colleagues, Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson, often join him in a weekend outing that seems cut from different cloth than the weekday version to which it is tied.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorTucker Carlson will expand his content contributions for Fox News Media, agreeing to a new deal to create three video podcasts and some original specials for Fox Nation, the company’s subscription-based video service.Starting in April,  Carlson is expected to release at least three new video podcast episodes a week. They will feature interviews with newsmakers, as well as discussions of prominent issues in the news cycle.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorLarry Kudlow spent nearly three years advising former President Donald Trump on economic policy. Now he’s taking to Fox Business Network, where he will get to comment as a new Commander-in-Chief is likely to dismantle much of what his predecessor wrought.Can he do so in an objective manner?“I’ve said good and bad things about Democrats and Republicans,” says Kudlow in an interview, noting that business-news viewers probably already know his philosophy.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSavannah Guthrie’s next one-hour special won’t appear on any of NBC News’ best known properties, which include “Today” and “NBC Nightly News.”  And yet, it may be of more critical importance to the NBCUniversal-owned news organization than any in-depth report she’s presented in recent months.Guthrie will today kick off a week-long focus by NBC News on the mental health of young people during the pandemic, the first of what NBC News President Noah Oppenheim says

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAttorneys for Fox News filed individual motions Thursday night to dismiss Smartmatic’s defamation lawsuit on behalf of Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, three anchors who have been named in the matter in which the voting technology company is seeking a whopping $2.7 billion.The three motions were filed by Kirkland & Ellis, the law firm representing Fox News in the matter.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBloomberg News on Thursday began notifying a group of employees they were being terminated, according to three people familiar with the matter, the latest in an ongoing string of layoffs at media companies as they grapple with the economics of the  digital age.Some staffers were given the sense the company hoped to enact a restructuring among a group of veteran editors, according to one of these people, who noted that some employees affected had been with

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe Opening Ceremonies of the Summer Olympics have long been something reserved for primetime TV — a glitzy event that draws big crowds with spectacle and flash.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorPBS won four prizes in the 2021 Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Awards, an annual recognition of some of the best work in the reaml of audio and video journalism.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe coronavirus pandemic will make an annual gathering for the reveal of the duPont-Columbia Awards all but impossible. And yet, there will be an opportunity to see them.PBS’ digital venues will stream a ceremony anchored by CNN’s Anderson Cooper and The Washington Post’s Michele Norris.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox News Media made a bid Monday to quash a massive $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit that has called into question segments delivered on at least three of its programs, saying the legal case presented by voting-technology firm Smartmatic is “meritless” and would “chill First Amendment activities.”Smartmatic, a maker of software that helps in elections,  has been the subject of disparaging commentary from a handful of conservative-news outlets.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorLou Dobbs’ program is off the schedule at Fox Business Network, and Larry Kudlow’s will soon be on.Fox Business Network will launch a new 4 p.m. program led by Kudlow on Tuesday, February 16, putting the former Trump economic adviser and CNBC personality on screen just as the stock markets close for the day.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorFox Business Network is poised to cancel Lou Dobbs’ long-running program, the latest in a series of programming changes taking place at Fox News Media, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.A spokesperson for Fox News Media could not be reached for immediate comment.Dobbs is one of three Fox News personalities who has been sued along with the Fox Corporation unit by Smartmatic, the voting technology company that has levied a $2.7 billion defamation

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSmartmatic, a maker of voting technology whose name has been the subject of disparaging commentary from a handful of conservative-news outlets, on Thursday said it had sued Fox News and three of its popular on-air personalities — Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro — for more than $2.7 billion, citing efforts made on Fox News programs to disparage the company’s business.Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, two attorneys who had been working for President