MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Hits No. 1 With Long, Complicated Segments Viewers Love

[Eugene]

Source: Forbes

Dec 31, 2018, 09:17pm

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Hits No. 1 With Long, Complicated Segments Viewers Love

Mark Joyella
Contributor
Media
I cover political media--and media politics.

One night back in July, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow paused for a moment as she began her 9 p.m. E.T. hour, The Rachel Maddow Show. “All right, first,” she said, inhaling. “Deep breath.”

Maddow was about to do something that few in cable news would dare attempt: devoting the next 27 minutes—-an eternity in television news—-to slowly and methodically tying together thread after thread in the messy, confusing and complicated story of Donald Trump and Russia.

This was Maddow in her element, at her best. She was pulling things together, making sense of something that wasn’t easy to understand, but was exceptionally important. “Things are at a boil,” Maddow told her audience that night, taking her time. “Things are going fast now. Everybody needs to pay attention.”


Maddow’s viewers have been paying attention, coming back night after night for long, meaty segments packed with nuance—and pushing The Rachel Maddow Show to the best ratings in the show's ten year history, and in recent weeks, becoming the highest-rated prime-time show in all of cable news.

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Read more: https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2018/12/31/msnbcs-rachel-maddow-hits-1-with-long-complicated-segments-viewers-love/

[LEW]

1. I know I will...

I love her show and will be watching, just like I have for the last 6 years! Go Rachel.....

[FakeNoose]

2. Rachel Rocks!!!

We love her and so should the entire country.

[NotASurfer]

3. Candidates for office, pay attention

This is how to counter dog-whistle rhetoric. There is something to a good story that deeply engages us. Bragging and boasting are primitive too, but at the end of the day we integrate plot and drama into memory. Sometimes listening to Rachel is like listening to a skilled teller of sagas whose climactic arcs have yet to be told. So learn to build tension, create narrative, and make memorable your campaign speeches, and we can all finish writing a satisfying ending to this saga

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. She's great. I love those long, careful expositions

where she ties a bunch of threads together. There are always people, including DUers, who gripe about how they can't watch her because she's so boooring and why doesn't she just get to the point?, but if you have the attention span of a gerbil and want everything served to you immediately on a tiny platter, I guess she might not be your cup of tea; but these ratings suggest - fortunately - that there are plenty of people who really want to understand what's going on.

[blueinredohio]

6. I also love these long drawn out stories. My husband usually has the remote

but at nine o'clock he knows to turn it to Rachel. I know she deserves time off but I hate it when she's not there. No one else can tell the story like she can, I could listen to her all day.

[Irishxs]

5. Maddox undoubtedly THE BEST !!

She’s fabulous, professional and thorough.