Opinion: This Is the Worst Show on Cable Television

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/CNN This column is being republished with permission from its original home on Substack.

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While I no longer work full-time in cable TV, I still follow the ups (and mostly) downs of the industry.

It was my life for many years.

I still have lots of friends in that world.

And old habits die hard.

And that’s why the recent news of a “ratings boost” for CNN left me profoundly depressed.

Not because CNN is doing well, but because of the reason , per AdWeek , that CNN is doing so well: The success of CNN NewsNight With Abby Phillip .

Let me say something important: I know Abby very casually.

I think she is a good journalist and a gifted broadcaster.

And, I think she does her level best in the show to keep it from getting too off the rails too often.

I have absolutely nothing against her.

The problem isn’t her, it’s the conceit of her show. (I also—and you can choose to believe this or not—have NOTHING against CNN .

Yes, they laid me off! Yes, it sucked! But that was years ago.) Plenty of people may agree with my sentiments — in fact, I know they do because they have told me so — but they don’t want to say it.