| TUCKER | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Format | Talk show |
| Starring | Tucker Carlson Bill Wolff |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 201 as of April 20, 2006 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | MSNBC |
| Original run | June 13, 2005 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
TUCKER is a television program on MSNBC, hosted by Tucker Carlson.
Contents |
The Situation with Tucker Carlson
Prior to July 10, 2006, the show was known as The Situation with Tucker Carlson. In the show, Carlson debates with several other guests: one segment involving a liberal and one with former Around the Horn sports show host Max Kellerman. Kellerman has to provide an argument against Carlson's opinion, regardless of whether he himself disagrees with Tucker. This style has prompted comparisons to sports talk shows that use a similar format, such as ESPN's Pardon the Interruption. Tucker is produced by Bill Wolff, who worked with Kellerman on two other PTI-styled sports shows, Around the Horn and I, Max. In addition, Carlson interviews guests, most often politicians or newsmakers. The show currently airs on MSNBC weekdays at 6pm ET. Commercials for the show now brand it as TUCKER (Live).
Segments
The show currently has seven regular segments. This format is generally followed, except in such extraordinary cases as the two episodes broadcast from London after the 7 July bombings and episodes broadcasted during / after Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Rita. First, there is an opening segment in which Carlson introduces his panelist and debates four to five news stories with him or her. Second, in "Crime Blotter," Carlson introduces three stories about "wrongdoing and justice served" and typically discusses one of them with a guest, usually via satellite, on a number of topics related to a situation. Third, in "The Outsider," Carlson debates a variety of news-inspired issues with Max Kellerman, who plays devil's advocate regardless of his personal viewpoint. Fourth, in "Curious Situation", Tucker introduces a story in the news and Tucker is joined by a guest, usually via satellite and typically pre-recorded, to discuss this situation. Fifth, in "First Look", Tucker is joined by his senior producer, Willie Geist, to take a look at tomorrow's news. Sixth, in "Voicemail", viewers are encouraged to call in and leave messages for Tucker. Four to five messages, on a variety of topics ranging from stories that aired on the program to a drinking game for the show to the bowtie, are aired and commented on. Finally, in "The Cutting Room Floor," Carlson jokes about non-serious stories with his senior producer, Willie Geist, son of Bill Geist from CBS. The original format of the program, prior to its move to 11 p.m. on August 8th, 2005, initially had six regular segments. First, there was a segment in which Carlson introduced his two panelists and debated five to six news stories with them. Second, in "Op-Ed Op-Ed," Carlson introduced three editorials from newspapers nationwide and debated them with the panelists. Third, in "Free Speak," Tucker spoke with a politician or newsmaker, usually via satellite, on a number of topics related to his or her situation. The fourth segment followed the same structure as the first. Fifth, in "The Outsider," Carlson debated a variety of news-inspired issues with Max Kellerman. Finally, "The Cutting Room Floor," segment of the show remains the same now, as it did in the past. After the show changed its name to "Tucker" and time slots to 6PM, "The Outsider" was removed and new segments like "Beat the Press" were added. The segments were later dropped, replaced instead with a panel discussion with two or three guests.It usually runs 2-3 segments. The last segment that regularly had Willie Geist, now has fellow MSNBC producer and contributor Bill Wolff since Geist has moved to Morning Joe.
Guests
There are rotating guests, including MSNBC policital analyst Pat Buchanan, The Hill associate editor A.B. Stoddard, Democratic strategist Peter Fenn, Newsweek Magazine's Richard Wolffe and Democratic analyst Hilary Rosen. Substitute hosts in the past have included MSNBC's Alison Stewart & Chris Jansing, WABC radio host Curtis Sliwa, sports host Max Kellerman (himself a former frequent guest) and Willie Geist. Geist can be seen at the end of most editions in a segment called In the News, similar-in-format to The Cutting Room Floor.
Untied - Tucker's MSNBC blog
On October 13, 2005, Carlson launched his own blog on MSNBC.com known as Untied. The blog, updated regularly, serves as a forum for viewers to e-mail Carlson about topics ranging from guests on the show, politics, gardening, fishing, and addressing the age-old question of 'boxers or briefs'. Carlson will post responses to these e-mails, as well as respond to general topics in the news, on this blog.
Canada
Recently, Carlson has made several critical remarks about Canada. For example, on the Dec 15th 2005 broadcast of his program, Carlson likened Canadians to "stalkers" and "your retarded cousin."
Broadcasts outside US
MSNBC and NBC News programming is shown for several hours a day on the 24 hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East. This includes Tucker and several other MSNBC shows.
