Another prominent CNN personality is headed to the news network’s upcoming subscription video-hub service CNN+. Don Lemon is set to host his own weekly talk show.
Per a press release, The Don Lemon Show will feature the host “and his studio audience take on the most talkable news stories each week.”
“I’ve been enamored by talk shows since I was a child. I’d hide the remote and made my siblings watch Johnny Carson. I wanted to be him,” Lemon said in a statement. “And then I discovered Phil Donahue and it all clicked. ‘Caller, you’re on the air.’ A talk show centered around news, current events and everyday provocative topics – I watched every single day! Same with Oprah. Time now for this generation’s version of that great tradition. This is my opportunity to dig deeply into the topics I’m passionate about and not limited to the news of the day.”
Honestly, it would be nice to have more than one grown up talk show on television. Shoutout to Tamron Hall!
CNN+ is scheduled to launch in the spring, with shows from Sanjay Gupta, Fareed Zakaria, Eva Longoria and Audie Cornish.
As the anchor of CNN’s Don Lemon Tonight, he often uses his honest takes on the news of the day to humanize stories, and has seen his popularity rise in recent years. Obviously, his much buzzed about New Year’s Eve appearances are a big part of this.
Streaming services have become the new battleground of cable news. Fox News has Fox Nation, and that’s all we’re gonna say about that. MSNBC uses its The Choice on Peacock to highlight personalities and stories that don’t neccesarily get time on their main network.
As Variety reports, providing Lemon with a studio audience and a full talk show production certainly signals that CNN is willing to give the project a bigger push than it would a traditional news anchor show.
There’s no word on a price point for CNN+ yet, but The Choice from MSNBC is included in Peacock Premium for $4.99/month and Fox Nation is $5.99/month, $64.99/annual.
Are you interested in The Don Lemon Show, and will you subscribe to CNN+?