Critics: Alec Baldwin's New MSNBC Show a Snooze

Actor Alec Baldwin’s new MSNBC show recently debuted to unimpressive ratings. Critics were not very kind to the “boring” show. Even the Los Angeles Times was not excited.

Up Late with Alec Baldwin garnered only 654,000 viewers for its opening night. Baldwin’s 10PM EST show was a bit shy of the 1.5 million that stayed up “late” for Sean Hannity on Fox that same night.

As to the time period, the Times snarked, “Yes, evidently 10 p.m. qualifies as ‘up late’ for MSNBC’s audience.”

Alec Baldwin has been flitting around the world of left-wing politics for years, now, and with his debut as an MSNBC show host, many thought this was his next step to drift away from acting and toward politics in some form. But if that was the hope, it seems that his first step on that path is faltering.

Baldwin warned fans ahead of time that he wasn’t going for laughs and intended to be serious with his interviews. The first show proved that quite well; Baldwin was certainly “serious.”

But his big debut was called a “snooze” by The Daily Beast, and his set was needled as “My Dinner with Alec” by Slate because its backdrop looks like a “supper club on the skids.”

As the Times described the atmosphere:

The critics weren’t in a forgiving mood. The premiere featured the former “30 Rock” actor and his guest, New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio, nestled into a green banquette in a set that looked like it was built for a mob-meeting scene in “Goodfellas.”