Carlson tied in with MSNBC
USA Today
Yes, MSNBC chief Rick Kaplan says, he did think of asking Tucker Carlson, whose new talk show, The Situation with Tucker Carlson, launches Monday at 9 ET/6 PT, to lose his signature bow tie.
"Did we want to show a different Tucker? We did talk about that," Kaplan says. "But he has been wearing one since he was 6 years old — his dad wears one — and I think Tucker wearing a regular tie would look silly."
Besides, when you're trying to jump-start your deep-in-third-place cable news network, as Kaplan is with MSNBC, you look for anything that distinguishes you from the other guys. And bow ties aren't big with Carlson's new prime-time competition, Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes or CNN's Larry King.
"Wearing a bow tie is a statement," Kaplan says. "Almost an act of defiance."
For his part, Carlson says he never gave any thought to changing ties. "It's like shaving or brushing my teeth. I just wear bow ties," says Carlson, who left CNN's Crossfire after eight years to take this gig. "I just want to remain the way I am."
Carlson will be joined on his new program by two regulars from different sides of the political aisle: radio talk-show host Jay Severin, a former Republican political consultant, and Air America talk-show host Rachel Maddow.
They'll kick around various subjects in the news at a rapid-fire pace similar to sports talk shows, where viewers know the turf and don't need to hear more than a few minutes on each topic, Kaplan says. "A lot of cable news viewers know a lot about what's going on. They want to know what they need to know in a few minutes and then move on to something else."
There will be a newsmaker to talk about the news of the day and then another guest at the end of the program to talk about "things that you don't ordinarily hear them talking about," Kaplan says.
Such as? How about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., talking about art, or former New York governor Mario Cuomo talking baseball, "so you really get a chance to see them as human beings," Kaplan says. "It's fun to hear these people talking about things they're passionate about but it's not their vocation. Allowing people to talk off-message makes them more human."
Carlson says that although he's pegged as a conservative, he has an open mind and has switched sides on two key issues: He was once pro-choice and pro-death penalty, and is now against abortion and capital punishment. "I was won over by the arguments of other people. I thought I was right, and I wasn't. There's no shame in that."
He says the tone of The Situation will be more along the conversational lines of his PBS talk show, Unfiltered, which ends its year-long run this month, and less along the shoutfest lines on Crossfire.
"I'm interested in what people have to say, and I don't think you invite someone on your show and then not listen to what he has to say," Carlson says. "I have no desire whatsoever to make an argument personal, and I never did on Crossfire— when I could help it."
During the presidential campaign, Carlson had a widely publicized run-in on Crossfire with comedian Jon Stewart, who said partisan debates on such shows were "hurting America." In January, CNN chief Jon Klein canceled Crossfire, saying that he was tired of loud political talkfests and that noise had overtaken substance.
There's some truth to that, generally, in cable news, Carlson says. "There's nothing wrong with expressing passion, but at some point it can become like watching your parents argue. It's uncomfortable."
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