Former Cable News Network Crossfire co-host Tucker Carlson will officially join MSNBC next week, developing a prime-time program at 9 p.m. that he will begin hosting in the second quarter.
That time period will put him up against CNN's highest-profile appointment TV host, Larry King.
The nattily dressed political analyst exited CNN's Crossfire Jan. 5. One of four hosts on the program, Carlson was said to have been in talks with MSNBC about a prime time program to replace Deborah Norville’s when he was let go by CNN chief executive Jonathan Klein. For his part, Carlson said he had told CNN in April he did not want to continue with Crossfire.
The bow-tie wearing pundit will now work again with MSNBC’s new president, Rick Kaplan. The two worked together when Carlson was a “CNN political analyst” during Kaplan’s reign as president of CNN, a position he held until 2000.
Courting Carlson at MSNBC represents one of Kaplan’s first major opportunities to create a new prime time show for the news network.
In addition to also hosting a weekly PBS political show, Tucker Carlson Unfiltered, Carlson also writes for a variety of magazines.
