Wide World of Women

Quoting from the old Underdog cartoon show,
"Looks like this is the end" :

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/report-cnn-to-end-hln-live-programming-including-morning-express-with-robin-meade/519528/

It was a heck of a run.

Looks like it's over and Robin is going bye-bye

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/cnn-t ... ba28abeba6

21 years and this is how it ends for Robin? No mention of BVD, Jen, Melissa, Shyann, Elizabeth, Susan, and others. I wonder what Robin's future plans are. I don't see her in New York or LA. Maybe her old stomping ground Chicago if Newsnation is interested. Also, Ana Cabrera is leaving for NBC News.

Wow. with all the changes at CNN I never thought about it impacting HLN. Pretty shocking, and what a crap way for them to treat Robin. I wonder if they even gave her an option to join the CNN morning show?

Everything is still processing in my mind. It seems like this will take effect immediately. This means Robin doesn't even get a chance to say goodbye... ugh. Another bleak reminder that this is all a business.

I'll have to prepare one more album or two, but I don't know with what. What a way to go.

Just like any other business--we all have to remember that there will be many more changes coming to the businesses under the WBD umbrella in the very near future.

I recall reading an article from the website Awful Announcing that with their NBA deal up following the 2024-2025 season, who knows what might be happening with that--even though the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame crew with Ernie Johnson, Kenny "The Jet" Smith", "Sir" Charles Barkley, and "The Big Aristotle" Shaquille O'Nel, Inside The NBA remains the best show in the business. And if that goes away, then what?

All we know otherwise on the sports end, they still have the one Match golf tournament (or is it two since I don't follow the sport regularly), the National Hockey League on TNT until the 2028 Stanley Cup playoffs and the NCAA Men's basketball tournament until March 2032 on three Turner outlets (TBS, TNT, and TruTV--but I wouldn't be shocked if WBD executives decide to pull the plug on TruTV so it would fade away quietly similar to what NBCSN did on New Year's Eve 2021.)

Just my added two cents on an otherwise sad, gut wrenching day for all fans of HLN especially from the glory days in general, along with Robin Meade and others from Morning Express in particular.

according to this, Meade was making $3 million a year (and has probably been making that for years)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... n-Fox.html

she'll be fine

It is official.

The final live show will air on Friday:

https://www.ajc.com/life/radiotvtalk-blog/report-robin-meade-entire-atlanta-hln-news-operations-nixed-amid-cnn-layoffs/4JZS3O4A7VFELBJ7J4SBVFCG6E/

Hopefully someone can link us to YouTube so we can see Robin's farewell message, after 21 years working at the same place in Atlanta. Such a shame it had to end like this.

Around Thanksgiving, a week ago, they didn't run Morning Express and instead for three days had reruns of NYPD Blue, West Wing and other shows. Morning Express returned but Robin is on holiday. And now I see the show was cancelled. I can't believe the channel is over in terms of news. It should be renamed then.

I hope Robin gets an opportunity to say goodbye.

What would’ve been a good way to end it?

Here is the official press release provided by CNN explaining why they did this cost-cutting move:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/media/cnn-layoffs/index.html

Having this all happen during the most magical time of the year that is Christmas is cruel. Just cruel.

It's very, very sad. Well, we midas well kiss HLN good bye forever way in the way we used to know it--at least the way we used to know it as Headline News back in the 20th century. I will remember it for the most part as some fun times indeed.

She DAMN well better get that opportunity!

The CNN link that bigzman posted above mentions that live programming on HLN will cease on December 6th, which is a Tuesday. This seems to point to the possibility that there could be a show on Monday. I presume that Robin is somewhere out of state this week, probably back in Ohio again, which is why she didn't appear on today's show. I say that because she cut short a vacation to come back and report on the death of the queen of England, and she surely would've done the same if she was on a staycation. I assume that CNN decided to have enough leniency to give Robin a chance to say farewell. It would be the right thing to do to give the face of the show (and the network) the opportunity to depart in her own words.

It’s surprising there might be one last show on Monday. Usually there is no “farewell” broadcast because bosses fear disgruntled employees will air their grievances. If WBD is allowing Robin to say goodbye AND accommodating her vacation schedule by letting that goodbye be pushed to next week, they’re being far more gracious than typical practice.

HSF- thank you for your commitment all these years! Your screengrabs were always a pleasant escape from my morning work, especially after I cut my cable ~5 years ago.

What comes next for Robin? I don’t think CNN brings her back to the main network for several reasons-
• they already have a surplus of staff
• most jobs are in NYC, and I don’t see her moving there
• her personality isn’t suited for sharing the desk with a co-host
• despite her looks, MX only avg’d about 50,000 key-demo viewers, so she won’t be entrusted with her own show by the execs who just fired her

I imagine she might be happy to walk away from the news. If reports of her $3 million salary are true, she is both comfortable and unlikely to be offered similar pay at another network. The MX job was 20+ years of light lifting—basically no prep, just read the same stories every 30 mins. Any new gig would require more commitment for less pay and probably a cross-country move. Have you seen the pics she posts of her backyard? Looks like the 12th at Augusta. She could have a luxurious retirement with decades of bliss by doing nothing.

My guess is she largely retires from the public scene, maybe popping up for charity events / small concerts / to write another book. Hopefully she’ll miss the public fawning and start engaging more on Instagram/Twitter. Maybe she launches a weekly podcast, which seems to be the current trend.

Agree with wise guy's comments, but I kinda disagree with the "no farewell broadcast" bit. HLN has provided their newly unemployed hosts one final chance to say goodbye (MicheLA and Ashleigh Banfield come to mind) and the hosts in question have been gracious to their viewers and employers in saying goodbye. Not that it may happen (recent Thanksgiving, y'all), but I do believe that, if given the opportunity, Robin and Company will be proper and professional ladies and gentlemen in bidding us adieu.

But like I said: no more Hot Ladies Network on the couch, but Don Lemon on two different feeds. FFS, CNN may as well shut down HLN entirely.

a lot of great points.
well said.

With the fact that their live, originally run programming era ends sadly on Monday should mark the end of the way we used to know HLN (or its' once popular predecessor with Headline News).

It is safe to say, it was a great run during its' time. For Robin to last over 21 years is nothing short of remarkable, considering the constant turnover of anchors and reporters from all time slots with both the national networks and local affiliates.

Obviously, with the internet and social media dominating for many years--it renders these types of morning shows as a niche following I guess you could say.

The numbers ratings wise prove it:

Today's shows typically average around 1/5 to 1/8 from when the Today show and GMA were at their peak during parts of the 1970's and a great bulk of the 1980's into the 1990's. Once cable initially took hold, CNN and HLN held their own pretty well until 1996 when MSNBC and Fox News started their operations.

And the world has never been the same. So sad.

So HLN will just be a rerun of prepackaged segments and documentaries like the weekend?