CNN announced Wednesday that it’s bringing back “Crossfire,” once a flagship program on the network.
The revival of the right-left debate show is part of the ratings-starved network’s ongoing reshuffling led by Jeff Zucker, the new president of CNN. In a statement, Zucker said that “[f]ew programs in the history of CNN have had the kind of impact on political discourse that Crossfire did.”
Current MSNBC commentator S.E. Cupp and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will represent the right on the show, while the left will be represented by former Obama campaign strategist Stephanie Cutter and Obama’s former environmental adviser Van Jones. The hosts will also appear on other CNN programs, the network said.
“Crossfire” had a long run through the 1980s and 1990s before ultimately being canceled in 2005. Not long before it was taken off the air, Jon Stewart appeared on the program in 2004, slamming then-hosts Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala in a scene that quickly went wiral.
