Larry Kudlow’s nightly CNBC program, “The Kudlow Report,” is being canceled, according to Chris Ariens of TVNewser.
Ever optimistic and conservative Kudlow
Kudlow had been the program’s conservative talk show host for just over five years and had been with the network for 25 years. From 2005-2008, he hosted “Kudlow & Company,” and before that was briefly involved in “Kudlow & Cramer,” before the rise of Jim Cramer provided him his own show. Kudlow will stay on as a senior contributor to CNBC’s Business Day programs, according to the report.
Praise and respect for Kudlow
“In my career, I have encountered few television hosts with Larry’s range,” CNBC president Mark Hoffman wrote in a note to staff, obtained by TVNewser. “As an interviewer, he is unfailingly polite and energetic, skillfully grilling guests but always ending a segment graciously. Larry has always brought great enthusiasm to every program and appearance.” Hoffman says the network is working on “a new 7PM strategy,” according to the report.
Ratings difficulty, ever optimistic view not taken seriously
The program had experienced ratings difficulty. Detractors noted Kudlow was ever the market optimist and his show was a distorted look at reality book-ended with stock market cheerleading. Jerry Bowyer was a former paid contributor to the show and said the pressure to discuss market positives trampled real debate.
“Larry’s fundamental commitment was to optimism, not to free market capitalism,” Bowyer wrote in a Forbes article. “The investor class is under assault in the U.S. to a degree that none of us have seen in our lifetimes. They don’t want the optimism case. They don’t want the pessimism case. They don’t want the members of the ruling class who are assaulting their portfolios to be coddled rhetorically by someone who is supposed to be on their side. They want the truth, and the truth is that free-market capitalism IS the best path to prosperity, but that it IS NOT the path we are currently on.”
Manufactured reality
Kudlow’s show increasingly manufactured a reality, according to Bowyer. “The constant pressure for optimism, producers calling and saying ‘Larry’s looking for the optimism case.’ Larry putting formerly optimistic guests ‘in the penalty box’ for not providing it,” he wrote, highlighting the issues. “Larry dropping good thinkers with good minds when they turned pessimistic. And even worse, those who stayed around, bending their minds and their principles to always find good news so they could continue in his good graces and get the publicity they needed.”
