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MS NOW is elevating anchor Alicia Menendez and moving Luke Russert into her slot on its nightly political “The Weeknight” talk show in a sweeping lineup shakeup ordered by network boss Rebecca Kutler.
Menendez, the daughter of disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), will be the solo anchor of a daytime slot on the left-leaning cable channel formerly known as MSNBC. News of her promotion was first reported by the Status newsletter.
Alicia Menendez, 42, currently co-hosts the network’s evening program “The Weeknight” alongside Symone Sanders-Townsend and Michael Steele, and has previously anchored weekend shows for the channel.
Her star has risen in recent years as viewers have warmed to her, according to Status. Menendez’s rising popularity has been rewarded by bosses who have tapped her to fill in for Nicolle Wallace.
Luke Russert, the 40-year-old son of late NBC newsman Tim Russert and Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, serves as host and creative director of “MS NOW Live” and is expected to join “The Weeknight” as a co-host, the Status newsletter reported.
Since its 2024 launch, “The Weeknight,” has gained momentum — expanding to five nights a week in primetime and posting sharp ratings gains, including a 30% jump in total viewers and a 46% increase in the key demo compared to a year earlier.
But it remains well behind Fox’s top opinion programs in raw audience. “The Weeknight” draws around 1.24 million viewers compared to roughly 2.9 million for Laura Ingraham’s “The Ingraham Angle” — more than double the audience.
The Post has sought comment from MS NOW.
Bob Menendez, 72, was convicted in 2024 of running a yearslong bribery scheme in which prosecutors said he accepted cash, gold bars and luxury gifts in exchange for using his political influence to benefit businessmen and foreign governments.
He was sentenced last year to 11 years in prison, but has maintained his innocence and blasted the case against him as politically motivated.
In January 2024, Alicia Menendez found herself in the awkward position of being on the air and breaking the news of her father’s indictment by the Justice Department.
Kutler’s overhaul targets the network’s struggling daytime block, which has lagged far behind prime time — with weekday hours from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. drawing 47% fewer viewers than its evening lineup.
The MS NOW boss is keen to reshuffle the lineup ahead of critical midterm elections scheduled for this fall.
MS NOW remains far behind Fox News Channel in the ratings, with Fox averaging about 2.6 million primetime viewers in February compared to roughly 1.1 million for MS NOW, according to Nielsen data.
Fox News is property of Fox Corp — sister company to The Post’s corporate parent News Corp.
MS NOW’s overhaul comes as the network adjusts to a broader corporate shakeup after parent Comcast spun off its cable assets into a new publicly traded company, Versant Media Group, earlier this year.
The move formally separated the channel from NBCUniversal and its news division, NBC News, as executives sought to reposition legacy cable networks for a rapidly shrinking pay-TV universe and intensifying competition from streaming platforms.
As part of that shift, the network rebranded from MSNBC to MS NOW, ditching longstanding NBC branding in favor of a more independent identity and a strategy focused on digital expansion.
The spinoff comes as the economics of cable news continue to erode, with declining advertising and distribution revenue across the industry.
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