Beginning next week, CNN anchor Chris Wallace will be moving to a prime time slot on Fridays from his previous perch at 7 pm on Sundays.
On Friday morning, the network announced that with the new batch of upcoming episodes, the HBO Max and CNN series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace will continue to release episodes to stream on Friday mornings, but is moving the CNN “Best of” presentation to Friday nights at 10 PM.
“CNN announced today that Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? will return for its third season on HBO Max and CNN on Friday, April 28. The best of the full HBO Max interviews will continue to air on CNN, beginning April 28 at 10pm ET/PT,” the network said in a press release sent to Mediaite.
The show features full-episode interviews with an eclectic array of figures from the world of popular culture, as well as politically-oriented guests and other newsmaking figures, using an in-depth format that mixes current events with more biographical subject matter. It also frequently showcases Wallace bursting into song.
The show promises more newsmaking interviews, including with presidential hopefuls, along with a new group of celebs:
As the 2024 election cycle approaches, Wallace will interview key policymakers and presidential hopefuls, leaning into his more than 50 years of political expertise and tackling the topics and issues facing the country. Highly anticipated guests for the upcoming third season also include Carol Burnett, Bill Hader, Jay Leno, Andy Garcia, Miranda Lambert, and many more that will be announced in the weeks ahead. Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace? will be available on the new enhanced streaming service, Max, when it launches in the U.S. on Tuesday, May 23.
Wallace’s show performed well on Sundays, winning its slot in the demo on three occasions and maintaining a strong 2nd place in cable news, according to Nielsen data. The move is being attributed to a combination of factors: new programming on Sundays (which Mediaite’s Colby Hall has given a glowing review) and capitalizing on the interest generated by the streaming release on Friday mornings.
“We’re thrilled that the CNN audience will now get to see these newsmaking interviews the same day that they are available on HBO Max,” a spokesperson for the show told Mediaite.
The move is also a complement to another recent programming partnership with HBO Max, soon to be MAX: CNN’s experiment of putting Maher’s “Overtime” segment on at 11:30.
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