MSNBC has announced who will fill the anchor chair of one of the most beloved cable news hosts on television.
Alex Wagner, a former MSNBC host who recently returned to the network, will replace Rachel Maddow in the critical 9 PM ET slot.
Wagner becomes the only Asian-American to anchor a prime-time cable news program, The New York Times reports.
“This is not a show where our hair is on fire and we’re yelling past each other, and we’re creating these manufactured moments of tension,” MSNBC president Rashida Jones, appearing to take a swipe at competitors CNN and Fox News, told the Times. “I really want the takeaway from this show to be a better understanding of what’s happening in the world.”
Maddow will continue to host the eponymous “Rachel Maddow Show” on Mondays, with Wagner hosting her as-yet-unnamed new show Tuesdays through Fridays beginning August 16.
Wagner, 44, is currently the co-host and executive producer of Showtime’s weekly politics show, “The Circus.” She has been a contributor to CBS News, a contributing editor to The Atlantic, a co-anchor for “CBS This Morning Saturday,” and spent four years hosting MSNBC’s “Now with Alex Wagner.”