The Arena with Kasie Hunt made its debut on CNN earlier this week.
And unlike other cable news launches, it didn’t have the fanfare that others have featured.
Whether that’s a good or a bad thing is up for interpretation. But the interesting component, in my view, is how Hunt shifts from mornings to afternoons. She had previously anchored the network’s Early Start from 5-7 AM ET before taking over CNN This Morning.
But now with an hour-long afternoon show, things change slightly. Gone are the quick story counts and forward-momentum-building segments, and in are longer-form interviews, and questions for panelists.
And that’s where my critique of the show begins. Because while I think the premise of the show — The Arena — is a good one, at its core it is just another cable news panel show.
Furthermore, it’s just another CNN panel show. It feels wrong to judge the show by its first two shows, but that’s the ultimate takeaway. The issue isn’t with Kasie Hunt, it’s with CNN.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: a CNN show with a female host, joined by a panel consisting of a CNN contributor, a media member from outside the CNN ecosystem, another person (likely a minority or a woman), and a token Republican to become the villain.
Did I describe The Arena with Kasie Hunt, NewsNight with Abby Phillip, or Inside Politics with Dana Bash?
Trick question. It’s all three. And that’s the issue with the show. It’s a formulaic premise, with a formulaic presentation, a formulaic cast, with likely formulaic results.
I understand that everyone in cable news is trying to re-create the success of Fox News’ The Five. But stop. The reason it works is something the other networks can’t replicate: Because it’s on Fox News. There isn’t some secret sauce. Fox News could show a week of Chuck Mangione playing his flugelhorn and trumpet in the early afternoon hours and it would be the highest-rated show in cable news during that daypart.
The issue I had with The Arena with Kasie Hunt wasn’t the content. It wasn’t the premise. It wasn’t even the fact that it’s like several other shows at the network. The show was just simply unremarkable. Nothing about it stood out, except the fact that it was like several other shows. Which isn’t a good thing.
The content was what you would expect from a CNN early afternoon show. On Tuesday, the opening monologue consisted of criticism of Donald Trump starting a trade war with our closest ally and trade partner, mixed in with a mashup of all of the times he said he would bring down prices to begin his presidency.
And that would be a really cool way to open the show…for each of the past 6 weeks. But in an attempt to make a profound point, it made the same point every other show on CNN attempts to make.
Additionally, CNN still lacks in the digital department. It doesn’t appear as if the network has a show page built for the program on website. The network doesn’t have a playlist for the show on its YouTube page. You can’t find full episodes of the show on CNN.com, the Max streaming platform, or CNN’s native app on Rokus, Amazon Firestick, Google TV Streamers, and Apple TV boxes.
This has been, and will continue to be, a major issue for CNN. When the company finds itself in the ratings doldrums it currently sees, it needs to make its content as available as possible. Especially when it wants to cement itself as the chief digital news outlet. The network falls short time after time in the digital realm, which is especially disappointing when it is in the midst of shuffling its lineup.
Ultimately, I don’t love the idea of being overly critical of a show two episodes in. Everything finds its footing eventually. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t last long. But when something is as milquetoast as this was, it’s difficult to think that The Arena with Kasie Hunt morphs into a top-of-the-line, consequential cable news show.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
How do you answer Kasie question of the day?
Post where to answer Katie Hunt’s answer of the day.
How do you answer Kasie’s question of the day?
Why have a question of the day, when we can’t respond?