SIDE SALAD - Everything crunchy is good.

THAT'S THE NEWS
AND I AM OUT OF HERE

Uh oh. Bad news for the Rantmeister:

CNBC Expanding Biz Day Programming Into Primetime; 'Dennis Miller' Cancelled

CNBC's 9pm talk show Dennis Miller will cease to exist on Friday, May 13. A repeat of Mad Money will air in its place.

CNBC is expanding its Business Day programming: A new business program -- details TBA -- will premiere at 7pm sometime in Q3.

Business-related programming will air on CNBC up until 10pm ET/7pm PT, so people across the country will have access to business news during their business day -- a significant shift from the "work hard, play hard" philosophy of airing Conan repeats at 7pm ET.

This wasn't exactly a shock. Drudge has been running some pathetic viewing numbers. But hey, that's more than CNBC had before Dennis.

As CNBC president Mark Hoffman wrote:

"I wanted to let you all know that we will be expanding our signature Business Day programming up to Primetime on the East Coast and will be adding an additional airing of "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

We will be introducing a new Business Day program at 7 p.m. ET sometime in the Third Quarter. I will share additional details about this program in the coming weeks.

As the Business News Leader, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that our influential, out-of-home audience has access to our signature Business Day programming throughout their business day from coast to coast.

I have spoken with Dennis Miller about these plans and he has let me know that his strong preference is to leave his program immediately. Therefore, the final episode of "Dennis Miller" will air this Friday, May 13.

Dennis is an exceptionally talented comedian with an unmatched wit and he and his team consistently delivered a very entertaining program. I want to personally thank Dennis, Eddie Feldmann and their entire group. We are all very proud of their accomplishments and wish them nothing but the best for the future.

Miller's show wasn't anywhere near the quality of what it was when he was at HBO, but then, when you kill the expletives and the adult humor, you diminish the man before he can start. He did his best to hybrid a news segment with a roundtable segment with a one-on-one segment with a comedy buddy circuit. He toned down the obscure sub-references of sub-references (oddly, he could have amplified this signature, since this was one audience who probably got most of them). And he did it with guests who were wonks and talking heads, not A-list celebs. Pretty gutsy move.

Still, you can't support the kind of operation Miller had with a microscopic slice of the viewing public. (Hey, wait, that sounds too much like my blog.) My guess, though, is that it had more to do with CNBC trying to mix its cocktail with a little non-business news than it did with Miller's schtick. Putting it on for an hour a night was ridiculous as well.

Much will be made of his political affiliation of late, but closer inspection of the show on a nightly basis would have revealed an attempt at balance by bringing on experts who didn't match his perspective. I often was stunned by the rational discourse on opposing viewpoints that failed to descend to banshee-level screeching. Ah, the old give-and-take. I remember it well.

The other night, he nailed Bush on something during the opening monologue and then turned to the camera and said, "See... after two years, I ring Bushie up a little.''

Maybe too little too late. Any time a comedian backs either party, the audience diminishes by half. But he at least was aiming at the viewers of that party who like to watch a channel devoted to making money. If he had done it on the Sundance channel, I would have feared he had some sort of anyeurism.

Posted by Jeff at May 11, 2005 08:37 PM | TrackBack