Rachel Maddow is to MSNBC What Johnny Carson Was to NBC

When I learned of Rachel Maddow's decision to renew her contract with MSNBC for a reported $30 million I immediately thought of Johnny Carson. Because from where I sit Maddow is to MSNBC what Carson was to NBC.

Now, it's true the content and format of their respective shows is quite different but what Maddow and Carson have in common is that they were both lynchpins for their respective networks and both wanted to work less. Carson had hosted The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson for 17 years when he let be known that he wanted out in 1979. At the time, Carson was in his mid-50's and wanted to slow down. For her part, Maddow has been hosting her show for 13 years and is in her late40's and wants to slow down. Well, NBC didn't want to lose Carson (especially at a time when they were fresh off the Supertrain debacle) just as MSNBC didn't want to lose Maddow. 

So NBC gave Carson $25 million a year (roughly $82 million in today's money), reduced the show from 90 to 60 minutes, was on only three nights a week and had 15 weeks off. Carson would remain with NBC for another dozen years before his retirement in 1992. Not bad work if you can get it and evidently Maddow got something resembling the Carson treatment - perhaps even better. Maddow's show is expected to go from weeknights to once a week along with other unspecified projects through the 2024 election. 

I grew up watching Johnny Carson and began to have a renewed appreciation a few years back when Antenna TV began re-airing its episodes. It prompted me to write a retrospective on the 25th anniversary of Carson's retirement. 

My attention towards Maddow has been more belated. I began watching her in earnest last summer during the DNC and she became appointment TV until I moved back to Boston where I presently do not have access to a set and just haven't been inclined to pay a subscription to watch streaming video which constantly skips and stalls. 

Nevertheless, it is clear to me why Maddow has a loyal following and equally clear that MSNBC is going to have big shoes to fill even if they are comfortable slippers. I'm sure when Rachel Maddow enters the next phase of her TV career the level of quality of her programming will more than make up for the diminished quantity of her air time. And that she, like Johnny Carson before her, can make more doing less then more power to her.