Rachel Maddow, the Air America radio host and perma-filler-in-er at MSNBC, is at last getting her own show on the network. The well-liked (by NBC News staffers) and well-received (by MSNBC viewers) commentator will take over the 9pm slot — a pretty hefty change, given that we’re only weeks away from the election. This means, of course, that Hamptons playboy Dan Abrams is losing his show Verdict. None of this is entirely surprising to insiders, nor Jossip readers — MSNBC chief Phil Griffin hinted Maddow getting her own show was a near inevitability, and we’ve been regularly covering her ascent at the network.

Though removed from primetime, Abrams, however, isn’t going far: He remains NBC News’ chief legal correspondent, and is expected to continue appearing on the network.

But the real matter at hand is now how well Maddow’s show will do, but how well Keith Olbermann’s Countdown will do without her. Certainly, Olbermann carries his own weight at the network. But Maddow, as an omnipresent guest and sometime fill-in anchor, has lent her expertise to Olbermann’s crusade against the Bush administration and John McCain. It’s likely that, with her own show to handle, she will have little to no time to appear on Olbermann’s program, nor anywhere else but daytime.

Source: Jossip.com