Deborah Norville to Leave MSNBC

Reuters.com ^ | Dec. 17, 2004

[COUNTrecount]

Deborah Norville to Leave MSNBC Fri Dec 17, 2004 08:21 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - TV personality Deborah Norville said on Friday she will end her MSNBC program next month after a year on the cable news channel but will stay on as host of the syndicated celebrity magazine show "Inside Edition."

In a message to MSNBC colleagues released by the network, Norville, 46, a mother of three, said she has lacked sufficient time to juggle the demands of two daily shows and family responsibilities.

There was no immediate word on whether the network would seek a replacement for the weeknight interview show or develop a new program altogether.

"This decision comes down to one issue: time," the former Georgia beauty queen said. "Time constraints prevented me from being able to book guests and research segments to my own high standards. And, unless someone invents a time-stretching machine, that likely won't change."

An MSNBC spokeswoman declined to say whether Norville's contract had been up for renewal but said, "It was a decision that she's made on her own."

"Deborah Norville Tonight," airing weeknights at 9 p.m. on MSNBC, trails rival programs "Larry King Live" on CNN and "Hannity & Colmes" on Fox News Channel.

Norville's show routinely drew fewer than 300,000 viewers, compared with over 1 million for King and more than 2 million for "Hannity & Colmes," according to industry publicationBroadcasting & Cable. MSNBC runs third in the cable news ratings as a whole.

Norville got her break in television in 1989 when as a network newcomer she replaced talk show veteran Jane Pauley as co-host of NBC's "Today" show.

She left "Today" in 1991 and four years later succeeded Bill O'Reilly as host of "Inside Edition."

MSNBC is a joint venture between Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Co.-owned broadcaster NBC.

[BenLurkin]

[beyond the sea]

Very pretty and fresh when she first showed up on the scene, but she's right...... her nightly show wasn't very well done.

Good luck in the future, Deborah.

[Skooz]

She seems to be one of the few truly decent people with that kind of gig.

I wish her success in whatever she chooses.

[Azzurri]

If MSNBC was smart, they'd move Dennis Miller over from CNBC to fill this slot. I suspect they are not smart enough to make this decision and fill the void with an Olbermann-type weasel.

[My Favorite Headache]

AKA "I will be on Fox News with my own show next year"

[LauraleeBraswell]

So basically, she has been having trouble balancing being both a mother and a professional woman.

Where is her husband?

Why are women expected to sacrifice their careers to be a mother? I understand that many mothers enjoy and prefer staying home and this is wonderful, but perhaps it's time to expect more from the husbands of two paycheck families.
I wonder if her husband would be willing to stay home. If a woman can work professionally a man can stay home and be a homemaker.

[Skooz]

I wonder if her husband would be willing to stay home. If a woman can work professionally a man can stay home and be a homemaker.

Everytime I float that trial balloon, my wife shoots it down forthwith.

[beyond the sea]

In the Long Island, New York, home she shares with her husband and three kids, Deborah Norville has single-handedly upholstered the chairs and sponge-painted the walls. Recently, the anchor of TV's Inside Edition took on the kitchen cabinets. But before the first coat was dry, she decided she didn't like the results. Neither did her husband (Karl Wellner). "He said, `It looks like a kitchen in Finland,' and I said, `But honey, you're from Finland.' He said, `Yes, but I left.' So now I'm beginning again." Starting over is nothing new to ...

Sponge painting a room is tough, meeting the corners and working around window and door frames is really difficult (more than you needed to know?).

Deborah is ok with me.

[LauraleeBraswell]

and I might add

A man can stay home and to be a homemaker and do the job JUST AS WELL as a woman can.

[Popman]

I might get flamed for it but:

Children need their mommies at home a lot more than they need their daddies.

Not saying dads can't be great at home parent, but that's the way we are made by BIOLOGY.

Woman make better mothers.

I think I deserve at least a Nobel Prize for that gem of wisdom

[Types_with_Fist]

Norville, 46, a mother of three, said she has lacked sufficient time to juggle the demands of two daily shows and family responsibilities.

Hmmm. She's always struck me as incredibly ambitious. Much too much to be concerned about home duties. I wonder if this is possibly cover for her being considered to replace Dan Blather?

[LauraleeBraswell]

There's nothing wrong with it really. We just aren't used to the idea.
But think about it, girls are told they can be anything they want to be when they grow up, but boys still have to fit a gender specific role.

The difference between SEX and GENDER is that

SEX is what we are, men and women are different with some different skills and abilities. Our brains work differently. For example, women are better at multi tasking while men are better at focusing on one thing. Women are goal oriented, men are competition oriented. Even as children, girls are better verbally boys are better mathematically.

But Gender is what Society expects of us.

[Mike Bates]

In a message to MSNBC colleagues released by the network, Norville, 46, a mother of three, said she has lacked sufficient time to juggle the demands of two daily shows and family responsibilities.

And she didn't know this before she signed on?

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I wonder if this is possibly cover for her being considered to replace Dan Blather?

It would be an immense help for an anchor's chances of getting the CBS gig if the person was readily available and not under contract at another network.

[LauraleeBraswell]

Read my next post.

The FemaNazis try to make it out that men and women are completely the same. But we aren't.

I feel that a father can raise a young family just as well as a mother can. He may do the job differently, but he is perfectly capable of doing it well.

And I'm not going to flame you for saying that, don't worry. But I feel that that type of thinking really suggests that women are superior. When women were encouraged to step up and take the professional world by force, They did and they did it well. Let's encourage the men to step up and take care of the children.

[Popman]

A man can stay home and to be a homemaker and do the job JUST AS WELL as a woman can.

Keep telling yourself that and one day you might actually believe it, no one else does.

Please note, I'm not ragging on you, well a little bit.

It's just that having raised six children with one women, my wife. I'll learned a lesson or two about children, and I can categorically tell with a moments doubt, my wife was a far superior at home parent than I could ever imagine myself being.

Bottom line is it what was BEST for our children.

[Types_with_Fist]

True. But it sounds like the duties she claims she will be keeping is not something that cannot be bought out by CBS. Nothing entangling here when it comes to contracts.

[COUNTrecount]

MSNBC has consistently been beaten in the ratings at that time(Norville) by "Larry King Live" on CNN and "Hannity & Colmes" on Fox News Channel.
Latest Cable News ratings as posted on drudgereport.com:


CABLE NEWS RACE
NITE OF WED, DEC 15

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2.2 [RATING]
FOXNEWS HANNITY/COLMES 1.8
FOXNEWS GRETA 1.7
FOXNEWS SHEP SMITH 1.3
CNN LARRY KING 0.7
CNN AARON BROWN 0.5
CNN ZAHN 0.4
MSNBC HARDBALL 0.4
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 0.4
MSNBC OLBERMANN 0.3
CNN ANDERSON COOPER 0.2