Carlson wasn’t out of the limelight for long. On June 13th, 2005, a few months after leaving CNN, he debuted in his new early evening segment, “The Situation With Tucker Carlson”, which premiered on his new network, MSNBC. Unfortunately, the gig didn’t last long and was taken off-air in March 2008 for poor ratings.
Surely Carlson’s right-winged views didn’t sit well with the majority left-winged audience which would explain the unfavorable ratings his new show received.
The Unforgettable Debate
You've probably already got a sense that Carlson isn’t one to back down in a debate. In October 2004, the year of the 2004 presidential elections, he had one of his most memorable moments that has become part of American TV history. In a heated exchange between Carlson and Jon Stewart (the host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central at the time), Stewart criticized the co-hosts saying “ It's hurting America. Here is what I wanted to tell you guys: Stop. You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably."
Stewart believed the two were making a mockery of reporting and journalism because they irresponsibly presented extremes of both political spectrums on important issues that only caused more division amongst the American people. Tucker later revealed that when the televised show ended, they stayed on arguing for several hours. Carlson said that it was heartfelt.
Facing the Consequences
In January 2005, CNN announced that Carlson would be leaving the network and “Crossfire” was going to be taken off the air. It was quite sudden news. At the time, the New York Times wrote about Stewart’s "on-air dressing-down" of Carlson as an "ignominious career [moment]" for Carlson. According to the paper, it was because of this criticism that the show “Crossfire” was ended. But this was not all, CNN chief Jonathan Klein, informed Carlson that his contract would not be renewed.
Carlson, however, tells a different story, His version is that he had already resigned from CNN and “Crossfire” even before Stewart was booked as a guest. Speaking to host Patricia Duff, Carlson revealed that “I resigned from “Crossfire” in April, many months before Jon Stewart came on our show, because I didn’t like the partisanship, and I thought in some ways it was kind of a pointless conversation […] each side coming out, you know, ‘Here’s my argument,’ and no one listening to anyone else. [CNN] was a frustrating place to work.” Who knows telling the truth?
The Network Changes Directions
Brian Stelter wrote in The New York Times that “during Mr. Carlson’s tenure, MSNBC’s evening programming moved gradually to the left. His former time slots, 6 and 9 p.m., were then occupied by two liberals, Ed Schultz and Rachel Maddow.”
Carlson also mentioned the shift MSNBC had made during his time there, saying that the network had “changed a lot” and “they didn’t have a role for me.” He said it was completely different from what it was when he first joined. However, he did mention in the same article that despite the difference in their political views the people at the network were always nice to him. Well, that’s good to hear!
Fox News Keeping Carlson Busy
In May 2009, Carlson became a contributor for Fox News. He was also a frequent panelist on a number of late-night satire shows, including “Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld” and “Special Report” with Bret Baier. He was the substitute host for “Hannity” in Sean Hannity’s absence and produced a Fox News special called “Fighting for Our Children’s Minds” where he ventured into the nation’s classrooms to find out what exactly our children were being taught.
Fox News is a very conservative network, which made it a very comfortable place for Carlson's views. They welcomed his thought-provoking opinions.