''Alex Wagner Tonight'' was an American liberal news and opinion television program hosted by Alex Wagner. It premiered on MSNBC on August 16, 2022, and aired on Tuesdays through Fridays as a substitute for ''

The Rachel Maddow Show ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' (also abbreviated ''TRMS'') is an American news television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET time slot Monday evenings. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public profile via her freq ...

'' (which, since May 2022, has only aired on Monday nights). Guest hosts for the series included

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Alicia Menendez Alicia Jacobsen Menendez ( ; born July 2, 1983) is an American television commentator, host and writer. She is the author of the book ''The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed as You Are'' (2019), and is an anchor for MSNBC. From 2020 ...

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and

Ayman Mohyeldin Ayman Mohyeldin (, ) is an American journalist, anchor and political commentator based in New York for NBC News and MSNBC. Previously the anchor of an MSNBC weekday afternoon show, ''Ayman Mohyeldin Reports'' (formerly ''MSNBC Live with Ayman Moh ...

History

From February to April 2022, as part of her new contract with

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

Rachel Maddow Rachel Anne Maddow ( ; born April 1, 1973) is an American television news program host and liberal political commentator. She hosts '' The Rachel Maddow Show'', a weekly television show on MSNBC, and serves as the cable network's special event ...

took an extended hiatus from her

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

program ''

'' in order to focus on other film and

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projects, with rotating guest hosts filling in for her. Upon Maddow's return, she announced that she would only host the show on Monday nights beginning in May, and continue to feature guest hosts throughout the rest of the week. At this point, ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' was retitled ''MSNBC Prime'' on Tuesday through Friday nights, but retained the same staff and overall format, and with the guest hosts usually being MSNBC personalities with a similar style to Maddow. Average viewership of the hour as ''MSNBC Prime'' was lower than that of ''The Rachel Maddow Show'', but still ahead of timeslot competitor ''

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'' (a replacement of ''

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'' with rotating hosts after

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was fired from the network) and behind

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's ''

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''. In June 2022, MSNBC announced that ''MSNBC Prime'' would be replaced by a new show hosted by Alex Wagner beginning on August 16. On August 3, MSNBC announced that the program would be titled ''Alex Wagner Tonight''. Wagner stated that the show would aim to combine Maddow's "intellectual rigor and informative analysis" with aspects that are representative of her own personal experiences, including more segments in the field and segments on climate change, immigration, and race. The program shared most of its staff with ''The Rachel Maddow Show''. The series premiere of ''Alex Wagner Tonight''—which featured guests

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Adam Kinzinger Adam Daniel Kinzinger (; born February 27, 1978) is an American politician, senior political commentator for CNN, and former lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard. He served as a United States representative from Illinois from 2011 to 20 ...

, and Joyce Vance, as well as coverage of Wyoming's Republican primary—was seen by around 2 million viewers. On January 13, 2025, it was announced that ''Alex Wagner Tonight'' would go on hiatus from January 20 to April 30, 2025, with ''The Rachel Maddow Show'' temporarily returning to a weeknight scheduling to cover the first 100 days of the

second presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's second and current tenure as the president of the United States began upon Second inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration as the List of presidents of the United States, 47th president on January 20, 2025. On his first ...

. During this hiatus, Wagner would be placed on special assignment to report on the repercussions of Trump's policy decisions across the country and internationally. In February 2025, amid changes in leadership at MSNBC, it was reported that ''Alex Wagner Tonight'' had instead been cancelled, with Wagner expected to remain with the network as a contributor.

References

{{MSNBC programming 2022 American television series debuts 2020s American television news shows American English-language television shows MSNBC original programming