MSNBC Axes Ronan Farrow’s Show In Programming Shake-Up

Ronan Farrow - October 21, 2013 - 79th Annual Blue Card Benefit And Auction held at The American Museum of Natural History. Photo Credit: Harel Rintzler/PatrickMcMullan.com/Sipa USA
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After a year of subpar ratings, MSNBC on Thursday cancelled 27-year-old wunderkind Ronan Farrow’s afternoon show “Ronan Farrow Daily.”

Hyped as a fresh offering for a millennial audience, the program had long been plagued by apparent lack of interest, hitting its lowest ratings point earlier this month with just 11,000 views in its key demo. Mediaite noted that this marked the 1 p.m. slot’s lowest-ever score since MSNBC scored 9,000 on Jan. 25, 2005.

Farrow made frequent on-air gaffes, such as displaying a photo of former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood when reporting the death of former Rep. Ray Hutchison (R-TX). He also used the ill-advised phrase “WTC jumpers” to describe daredevils jumping off the new World Trade Center building — then asked viewers to weigh in on whether said jumpers were “heroes” or “zeroes.”

In October, MSNBC denied rumors that Farrow was facing cancellation. The New York Times reported that same month that Farrow’s show sunk the timeslot’s ratings by 50 percent among viewers aged 25-54, helping CNN gain traction over MSNBC.

Politico’s Dylan Byers reported Thursday that Farrow would be launching “a new series of primetime specials, featuring in-depth interviews, and will continue to be a special correspondent across programming.”

“The Reid Report,” hosted by Joy Reid and airing right after Farrow’s program, was also cancelled.

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Notable Replies

  1. Thank you God.

  2. Ratings lower than public access cable sure can get a show canceled, yes. But shows have staff, a wrong photo is hardly a gaffe by the host. THAT’s the job of the producer to confirm, assuming the host was even the one responsible for pulling a photo in the first place, though that’s usually a staffer’s job. “The show had problems, such as showing a photo of…” Is more like it. FIFY.

    PS, Never watched the show…

  3. Who is Ronan Farrow? Is he related to Mia Farrow? To Ronan Tynan?

  4. Mia’s son—rumored to be fathered by Frank Sinatra—and a very smart young man.

    Just a terrible TV host.

  5. But the most unfortunate news is buried at the end of the story: the cancellation of Joy Reid’s show! She is smart, articulate, fair, well-informed (as opposed to Sharpton!). I will really miss her show!

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