MSNBC Cancels Conservative Host Hugh Hewitt’s Show

Almost exactly a year since it began, conservative host Hugh Hewitt’s show is coming to an end at MSNBC after it failed to deliver satisfactory ratings for the network.

Hewitt announced the cancellation of the 30-minute Saturday 8 a.m. Hugh Hewitt Show on his program Saturday. “It’s been great fun to bring interviews with high-profile newsmakers to you and I will do more of it, which brings me to an important programming note,” he said. “This has been the last Hugh Hewitt Show on MSNBC on Saturday mornings.”

Hewitt, who initially gained renown as a conservative radio commentator, will remain on the network as a contributor on shows including Meet the Press, where he promised to conduct more one-on-one interviews.

“It’s been great fun to host this show and I’ll see you on MSNBC soon. Thank you for watching,” he said.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday, MSNBC added, “MSNBC and Hugh Hewitt have decided to end Hewitt’s Saturday show. Hewitt will continue as a contributor across our platforms.”

Hewitt’s show was first announced as an addition to the network in June 2017, bolstering the network’s lineup of conservative voices, including those of Greta van Susteren and Nicole Wallace. Ratings weren’t impressive for the early-morning weekend slot, with one former MSNBC host telling The Hollywood Reporter last year that the conservative pundit was an “obvious mismatch” for the liberal-leaning network.

Hewitt also courted controversy in May when it was revealed that he had brokered a meeting between Trump administration EPA chief Scott Pruitt and lawyers representing a California Superfund site. The lawyers successfully lobbied the EPA to put the Orange County North basin site on a list intended for “immediate and intense” agency action.

While MSNBC did not provide a comment to THR at the time of the EPA story, the editorial page editor at The Washington Post, where Hewitt is a columnist, called the revelations “disturbing.”

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