Logo

‘Dennis Miller’ Leaving CNBC Lineup

May 11, 2005  •  Post A Comment

“Dennis Miller” will depart CNBC’s weeknight lineup and a repeat of “Mad Money With Jim Cramer” will be telecast at 9 p.m. weeknights, effective Monday. The airtime is several hours earlier than planned. Mr. Miller’s show had averaged 168,000 viewers since it launched in January 2004.

In an internal communiqu%E9; Tuesday, new CNBC President Mark Hoffman praised Mr. Miller as “an exceptionally talented comedian with an unmatched wit” and said the Miller production team had “consistently delivered a very entertaining program.”

But Mr. Hoffman said that after he told Mr. Miller about plans to expand Business Day programming into prime time in the third quarter — when “Mad Money” was to move into the 9-10 p.m. weeknight slot as part of Mr. Hoffman’s plan to ensure CNBC is telecasting Business Day programming throughout the West Coast business day — the caustic comedian “let me know that his strong preference is to leave his program immediately. Therefore, the final episode of ‘Dennis Miller’ will air this Friday, May 13.”

Mr. Hoffman said he plans to launch a new Business Day program at 7 p.m. weeknights, but that details are still a few weeks away.

In the meantime, repeats of “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” will continue at 7 p.m. weeknights and “The Big Idea With Donny Deutsch” will continue at 10 p.m.

“CNBC is a trusted, real-time investor network and our viewers rely on us for actionable information wrapped in the most compelling business stories of the day,” Mr. Hoffman said in his e-mail to the staff. “This announcement reinforces our commitment to delivering on that expectation and our mission.”