Since Kathleen Parker departed, Spitzer is averaging 729,000 viewers a night, way up year-over-year compared with Campbell Brown. But the increase hinges in part on strong tune-in for CNN during a very newsy first quarter.
Rob Kim/Everett CollectionShortly after Current TV’s Friday announcement of Keith Olbermann‘s termination, the network released further details on the replacement series hosted by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer — just two and a half hours ahead of its inaugural broadcast.
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Viewpoint With Eliot Spitzer, airing nightly in Olbermann’s old Countdown slot of 8 p.m. ET, will be home to a similar broadcast of news, opinion, guests, analysis and debate.
The network’s co-founder and chairman, former Vice President Al Gore, who issued the letter of Olbermann’s firing, spoke of Spitzer’s appointment in another statement.
“Eliot Spitzer is a veteran public servant and an astute observer of the issues of the day,” he said. “He has important opinions and insights. Eliot relishes the kind of constructive discourse that our viewers will appreciate this important election year.”
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Sptizer most recently hosted CNN’s In the Arena (previously Parker Spitzer with Kathleen Parker) before it was canceled in July. He has since contributed to several outlets, including Current, where he subbed for Olbermann during the recent Florida presidential primary. Spitzer rose to international prominence in 2008, when he resigned from his first term as governor of New York amid a prostitution scandal.
“I am thrilled to have the opportunity to host a show on Current TV that will provide insight into and analysis of the critical issues on the minds of Americans today,” Spitzer said Friday.
He joins another former governor on Current’s lineup, Michigan’s Jennifer Granholm, whose The War Room will follow Viewpoint, staying in its 9 p.m. ET time slot.
