For those who may tune this channel in. I don't even have it on my remote anymore.
'Cosby: Live' soon
dead at MSNBC
Rita Cosby
MSNBC personality Rita Cosby yesterday went from the floodwaters of Pennsylvania into the fire of 30 Rock.
After a grueling nine-hour meeting involving Cosby, her agent and top NBC News and MSNBC execs, the third-rated cable news network announced that her weeknight show, "Rita Cosby: Live & Direct," will be canceled in early July.
Instead she'll be the "primary anchor" of "MSNBC Investigates," a taped documentary program that will air at 10 and 11 p.m. She'll also lead a "Rita Cosby Specials" documentary unit, according to an MSNBC press release.
Cosby - who rushed back after anchoring her Wednesday night show in knee-deep water in Yardley, Pa. - told me she's pleased with her new gig, which initially will give her less nightly on-air presence than she enjoys now.
As news execs were deciding to kill her show - which has lost viewers since a promising launch last August - Cosby requested the meeting with NBC News president Steve Capus. Yesterday's agreement was hammered out in a sometimes tense session of finger-pointing that lasted far longer than expected, as Cosby's staff sat fuming in ignorance for the better part of the day.
The meeting involved Capus, NBC News senior vice president Phil Griffin, MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams and Cosby's agent, Larry Kramer.
"I'm thrilled," Cosby told me as she traveled to last night's surprise birthday party for her boyfriend, Tomaczek Bednarek.
"This is an exciting opportunity, and now you're going to see even more of me at 10 and 11, on MSNBC and also on NBC."
But I hear that many of the yet-to-air "MSNBC Investigates" tapes are already in the can, and that Cosby might not be on the air for a week or more after her program ends.
Tucker Carlson's "The Situation," meanwhile, will be moved from 11 p.m. to 4 p.m., with a repeat at 6 p.m., a spot previously held by the defunct "Abrams Report."
As for Cosby's situation, it looked better at the end of the meeting - which lasted until 6 p.m. - than it did at the beginning.
nydailynews.com |
