Maddow & Donald Trump effect: anchor on the rise
PBS airing ‘Wild Alaska Live’
NEW YORK, May 23, (Agencies): Fiercely intelligent, acerbic and relentlessly liberal Rachel Maddow has defied ultra-feminine stereotypes to become the most watched news host in the United States, riding the wave of the Trump presidency and chaos at Fox News.
The 44-year-old former Rhodes Scholar who has lived publicly … since college looks like no other woman on image-obsessed US television news.
Her hair cropped, she never wears earrings, dresses or necklaces, and favors sharply tailored pant suits in somber colors with a plain contrasting top.
It’s an image that frequently exposes Maddow to derision on social media. But if she minds, she never lets on.
“The Rachel Maddow Show” airs Monday to Friday at 9:00 pm on cable news channel MSNBC, as popular with liberal Democrats as Fox News is with Donald Trump’s Republicans, and part of the Comcast group.
She typically opens each program with a monologue, often as long as 20 minutes — her take on the day’s events in a sweeping arc that can draw dots between events in Romania or Venezuela before returning to the US president.
“What I end up doing is trying to find things that happened in our past or in other countries, or in fiction, or something that can put in context what’s happening,” she trailed off during a recent interview on Viceland.
If at times it’s less news anchor and more professorial then it’s worth noting that Maddow has a doctorate in political science from Oxford University.
Republicans and conservatives attack her from the right, insulting her as “Madcow” or “Queen of Fake News.”
From the left, MSNBC’s identification with the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, Maddow’s solemn style and her fondness for conjecture are also criticized.
In mid-March, she had social media in uproar after announcing, pre-show, that she had Trump’s tax returns, only to keep the country on tenterhooks as she waded through an extensive monologue before ultimately reporting little that was new.
Late-night satirist Stephen Colbert lampooned Maddow, dressing up to look like her and delivering his own derisive monologue.
PBS is collaborating with the BBC on a special live event this summer where cameras will try to catch bears, wolves, eagles and other wildlife in their natural habitat in Alaska.
“Wild Alaska Live” will air over three nights on PBS on July 23, 26 and 30. Cameras placed in the Tongass National Forest, the Kenai Fjords National Park, in Hallo Bay and other locations will hunt for wildlife as the show discusses how the state’s human population interacts with nature.
The show is similar to “Big Blue Live,” a 2015 event focused on marine life in California’s Monterey Bay. That was another partnership with the BBC, said Beth Hoppe, chief programming officer at PBS.
“Live natural history has really caught on for them,” Hoppe said. “For them, it’s a big spectacle. For us, it’s a way to dip our toes into the space.”
Brothers Chris and Martin Kratt of the PBS Kids series “Wild Kratts” will host the event.
Telepictures Productions’ “Extra” laid off a number of staffers last week as the syndicated newsmagazine adjusts to the realities of an increasingly challenging TV market.
Tracey Edmonds is poised to exit her role as co-host over the summer. That decision was said to be driven by her desire to return to full-time producing, although it is still likely part of the cost-cutting effort as her role will not be replaced. Mario Lopez and Charissa Thompson will continue on as co-hosts. The show has been renewed through the 2018-19 season.
The layoffs are said to affect about 15-20 employees at all levels. Before the staff cuts, “Extra” had about of 170 staffers in Los Angeles, New York and Las Vegas.
Mark Burnett has just stepped off the set of “Beat Shazam,” his new primetime game show. The series premieres Thursday on Fox with Academy award winner Jamie Foxx as host, and a buoyant Burnett can’t be accused of underselling it.
“I always think of Jamie Foxx as an Academy Award winner, as an actor from ‘Ray’ and ‘Django Unchained.’” Burnett says. “But then you see him on ‘Beat Shazam.’ He loves music and he loves an audience. And the audience — when he walks onto the stage, it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. He’s such a big star. The audience goes crazy.”
The premiere of “Beat Shazam” — in which contestants go head-to-head with the app in trying to guess the titles of popular songs — is part of a week that is, like Jamie Foxx in front of a studio audience, unlike anything ever seen on TV.
The super-producer and MGM Television president will have new episodes of shows premiering on broadcast television every weeknight, starting with part one of “The Voice” season finale on NBC Monday and part two on Tuesday. Wednesday brings “Survivor” on CBS — as well as new episodes of MGM’s “Fargo” on FX and “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu. Thursday is the “Beat Shazam” debut. Then a new episode of “Shark Tank” premieres Friday on ABC.