The Rachel Maddow Show

The Rachel Maddow Show (also abbreviated TRMS) is an American liberal news and opinion television program that airs on MSNBC, running in the 9:00 pm ET timeslot Monday through Friday. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained a public profile via her frequent appearances as a progressive pundit on programs aired by MSNBC. It is based on her former radio show of the same name. The show debuted on September 8, 2008.
Background.
Keith Olbermann, then host of MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", was Maddow's first guest on her debut show, and has been given credit for pushing for Maddow to gain her own show. Prior to getting her own show, Maddow had served as regular guest host for "Countdown" when Olbermann was absent. "The Rachel Maddow Show" replaced "Verdict with Dan Abrams".
Production.
"The Rachel Maddow Show" is broadcast from Studio 3-A at the NBC Studios, 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York.
The broadcast is available on many platforms besides MSNBC, including msnbc.com, audio podcast, video podcast, text transcript, YouTube, and weblog.
The series has occasionally used theater audiences, including the 92nd Street Y in New York City on December 20–22, 2010; the Free State Brewery in Lawrence, Kansas, on February 23, 2011; and the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 5, 2010 (to mark the impending Super Bowl XLIV game featuring the New Orleans Saints under the name "The Rachel Maddeaux Sheaux").
Ratings and reviews.
2008–2016.
"The Rachel Maddow Show" debuted on September 8, 2008, with 1,543,000 viewers (483,000 of whom were in the 25–54 demographic). Early reviews for her show were mostly positive. "Los Angeles Times" journalist Matea Gold stated that Maddow "finds the right formula on MSNBC", while "The Guardian" wrote that Maddow has become the "star of America's cable news". Associated Press columnist David Bauder called her Keith Olbermann's "political soul mate" and referred to the Olbermann/Maddow shows as a two-hour "liberal...block". "New York Times" writer Alessandra Stanley opined: "Her program adds a good-humored female face to a cable news channel whose prime time is dominated by unruly, often squabbling schoolboys; Ms. Maddow's deep, modulated voice is reassuringly calm after so much shrill emotionalism and catfights among the channel's aging, white male divas."
On September 16, 2008, the show drew 1,801,000 viewers (with 534,000 in the 25–54 demographic), beating "Larry King Live" and becoming the highest-rated MSNBC show of the night. Maddow's ratings success on September 16 prompted her MSNBC colleagues on "Morning Joe" to congratulate her on the air, including Joe Scarborough, who said it was "just one of those times where good people do well." In the month of March, 2009, the average number of viewers dropped to 1.1 million, part of a general trend in the ratings decline for cable news programs. During the third quarter of 2009, the show was ranked in third place behind Fox News's "Hannity" and CNN's "Larry King Live." The average total number of viewers for the show's airtimes during that period was 992,000.
During the first quarter of 2010, Maddow's show pulled well ahead of "Larry King Live," regularly beating the show in overall and primetime ratings and becoming the second-highest rated program in its time slot, behind only Fox News's "Hannity." The show continued its lead during the second quarter of 2010, staying well ahead of CNN's "Larry King Live" for the third consecutive quarter and achieving higher primetime and overall ratings.
In September, 2012, "Maddow" viewership in the 25–54 demographic topped that of "Hannity" on Monday and Tuesday and in the demographic's daily average for the week, though not in the week's cumulative viewership for the time slot. The week was MSNBC's strongest since February, 2009. At the time, the network regularly ranked "a distant second" to Fox News viewership.
In May, 2013, the show delivered its lowest-rated month - 717,000 viewers - since it debuted in September, 2008, and its second-lowest with adults 25–54 with 210,000 viewers in that category. That month TRMS was topped by both FNC's "Hannity" and CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight."
In November, 2013, during the off-year election coverage, Maddow was "up significantly, averaging second place in both measures with 1.267 million viewers and 313,000 adults 25–54." This placed the "Maddow Show" second, behind Fox News' Megyn Kelly but ahead of CNN's "Piers Morgan Live."
2016–present.
Following the November 2016 election of Donald Trump as president, "The Rachel Maddow Show" became a leading outlet for criticism of Trump, especially for the allegations that the government of Russia had interfered in the election and had assisted with Trump's presidential campaign. For the week beginning February 13, 2017, Maddow's 9 p.m. ET show averaged 2.5 million total viewers, giving the host her best single week since just before the 2008 election, when the program pulled in an average of 2.6 million viewers. This also gave the show its second best week ever. In February, 2017, "TRMS" was watched by the largest number of viewers in the show's 9-year history.
On March 14, 2017, Maddow revealed the first two pages of Trump's 2005 federal tax return on the program. The documents were obtained by journalist David Cay Johnston, who was a guest that night. Before the program aired, the White House released a statement acknowledging that Trump paid $38 million in federal income taxes in 2005. The White House also accused MSNBC of "violating the law" by discussing Trump's 2005 tax documents.
In March 2018, "The Rachel Maddow Show" was America's highest-rated cable news show, besting Fox News' "Hannity", with "Variety" stating that "Maddow averaged 3.058 million viewers for the month, narrowly topping Hannity’s 3.00 million."
In ratings numbers released in July 2019, the show slipped to fifth place, with an average of 2.487 million viewers in the overall cable ratings behind "Hannity" with 3.3 million viewers, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" with 3.1 million viewers, "The Ingraham Angle" with 2.6 million viewers and "The Five" with 2.5 million viewers.
In January and February 2021, the show achieved its highest ratings in its history, being the highest rated program on all of American cable television, including non-news programming, and also averaged the most viewers for cable news in the 25–54 age demographic.