The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle is an American nightly news and politics television program airing weeknights at 11:00 pm ET on MSNBC that premiered on September 6, 2016. It was hosted by Brian Williams^[1] until December 9, 2021. The show began utilizing a rotating list of guest hosts on December 13, 2021. Stephanie Ruhle was named the subsequent full time host on March 2, 2022.

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle
Genre	News program Political journalism
Created by	Phil Griffin
Presented by	Brian Williams (2016–2021) Stephanie Ruhle (2021–present)
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	6 (as of September 2021)
Production
Executive producers	Patrick Burkey (2016–2017) Colleen King (2018–2019) Jack Bohrer (2019–2020) Jonathan Wald (2020–present)
Producer	Julie Morse
Production location	New York City
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	60 minutes
Original release
Network	MSNBC
Release	September 6, 2016 (2016-09-06) – present
Related
NBC Nightly News The News with Brian Williams

History

 

Former title card, used during Brian Williams's tenure from 2016 to 2021

 

Brian Williams was host of The 11th Hour from 2016 to 2021, following his departure from the NBC network that year, rotating guest hosts began on December 13 and continued until March 1

The show launched on September 6, 2016, as a temporary program wrapping up the election news of the day, while previewing stories that will be top-ticket news items the next morning.^[2] It replaced a rerun of All In with Chris Hayes.

The program is Williams' second show in MSNBC's primetime schedule, as he formerly hosted The News with Brian Williams, which aired on the network from 1996 to 2002 before moving to CNBC. Originally the program was Monday to Thursday only, and despite its name, aired for only a half hour. The last half hour of Hardball aired following the half hour program.^[3] At times the program was extended due to breaking news coverage. The program expanded to Friday nights in January and on March 20, 2017, was extended to one hour daily.^[4] On April 13, 2017, MSNBC officially extended the program to an hour long.^[5]

The program primarily features interviews with reporters covering the major stories of the evening, panels composed of former government officials and subject matter experts, and the occasional politician. Williams eschews the conflict-ridden panels of competing opinion shows. Interviews with newsmakers are either live or to tape as close to air time as possible, to maintain immediacy. Similar to the original Nightline which focused on the Iran hostage crisis, the program focused primarily on the actions of the presidency of Donald Trump and Williams leads each broadcast noting the number of days since the Trump presidency began, as well as how many days remain before it ends.^[6] Since the presidency of Joe Biden began, the program now counts the number of days of the Biden administration and mostly discusses Biden administration actions.^[7]

 

Stephanie Ruhle became host on March 2, 2022.

After the 2016 election, the program continued to air despite its initial billing as a temporary program.^[8]

NBC News contributors Nicolle Wallace and Eugene Robinson provided commentary on most of the 2016 editions. Wallace also served as a substitute anchor in Williams' absence. Wallace's duties on the program resulted in her hosting her own show, Deadline: White House.^[9][10]

Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would be leaving NBC News and MSNBC at the expiration of his contract the following month, after five years hosting the show and 28 years with the networks.^[11][12][13] Williams' final broadcast was December 9, on which he announced that the show would continue to air and have rotating guest hosts such as Ali Velshi and Chris Jansing from December 13, 2021 to February 25, 2022.^[14]

On January 27, 2022, it was reported that Stephanie Ruhle, who had been part of the rotation while hosting MSNBC Reports will become The 11th Hour's new permanent host.^[15] The first episode with Ruhle as permanent host aired on March 2.^[16] Since Ruhle became host, the program no longer counts the number of days of a president's administration.

On May 27, 2022, following the Robb Elementary School shooting, the show aired a special titled Enough Is Enough that discusses gun culture in the United States.

Since 2024, the program also airs a recap on Sunday as part of Prime Weekend, which also recaps from The Rachel Maddow Show, Deadline: White House, Alex Wagner Tonight, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, All In with Chris Hayes, The ReidOut and Inside with Jen Psaki.

References

1. "Brian Williams' new program, 'The 11th Hour,' debuts Tuesday on MSNBC". Los Angeles Times. September 1, 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
2. Steinberg, Brian (September 19, 2016). "NBCUniversal Bets on '11th Hour' Revival for Brian Williams". Variety. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
3. "The 11th Hour With Brian Williams : MSNBCW : February 15, 2017 8:00pm-8:31pm PST". February 16, 2017. Retrieved 2018-05-05 – via Internet Archive.
4. Steinberg, Brian [@bristei] (March 29, 2017). "For what I believe is its 7th straight broadcast @11thHour on @msnbc is an hour rather than 1/2. MSNBC should start updating cable guides" (Tweet). Retrieved 2018-05-05 – via Twitter.
5. Steinberg, Brian [@bristei] (April 14, 2017). ".@MSNBC is finally telling cable distributors @11thHour is 60 minutes, instead of just skedding it for half an hour" (Tweet). Retrieved 2018-05-05 – via Twitter.
6. Steinberg, Brian (October 24, 2017). "Brian Williams Opens Up About Regaining Viewers' Trust After Scandal". Retrieved 2018-05-05.
7. "The 11th Hour with Brian Williams". ART19. Retrieved 2021-01-29.
8. "Hillary's Loss Could Mean MSNBC's Gain in Trump Era". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
9. Petski, Denise (April 28, 2017). "Nicolle Wallace To Host New 4 PM Weekday Show On MSNBC". Deadline Hollywood.
10. . MSNBC. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
11. Stelter, Brian (2021-11-10). "Anchor Brian Williams is leaving MSNBC and NBC News". CNN. Retrieved 2021-12-09.
12. "Brian Williams to leave NBC News at year's end". POLITICO. November 10, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
13. Steinberg, Brian (November 9, 2021). "Brian Williams to Part Ways With MSNBC by Year's End". Variety.
14. Stelter, Brian (December 8, 2021). "Brian Williams' final MSNBC broadcast will be on Thursday". CNN. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
15. Li, David K. (January 28, 2022). "Stephanie Ruhle set to take 'The 11th Hour' slot, while 'Morning Joe' is expanding". NBC News. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
16. Johnson, Ted (February 7, 2022). "Stephanie Ruhle To Debut On March 2 As Permanent Host Of MSNBC's 11 PM Hour". Deadline. Retrieved February 7, 2022.

External links

• Official website

Preceded by The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell	MSNBC Weekday lineup 11:00 PM – 12:00 AM 2:00 AM – 3:00 AM (replay)	Succeeded by The Rachel Maddow Show (Monday) (replay) Alex Wagner Tonight (Tuesday-Friday) (replay) (Following First Airing)
		Inside with Jen Psaki (Tuesday) (replay) All In with Chris Hayes (Wednesday-Friday) (replay) Dateline Extra (Saturday) (replay) (Following Second Airing)