CNN may be still finding its way after the tumultuous, short-lived reign of its former CEO Chris Licht, but the announced debut of Kaitlan Collins' primetime show "The Source" can be taken as a sign that its schedule is stabilizing. Collins' New York-based hour premieres at 9 p.m. ET on Monday, July 10, the network announced on Tuesday during its Fourth of July special broadcast, Variety reports.
Collins, who has been anchoring CNN's nebulously titled "CNN Primetime" at 9 p.m. in recent weeks, moderated the network's recent disastrous Donald Trump town hall experiment. Her show was originally announced in May as part of an internal memo to CNN employees. "The Source" underlines Collins' status as CNN's rising star. The former White House correspondent briefly co-hosted the network's revamped morning show with Poppy Harlow and Don Lemon, who Licht shifted from his longtime primetime berth to daytime. Soon after, CNN and Lemon parted ways over claims of the anchor's sexism and rumored tensions between him and Collins off-camera, as reported in The Daily Beast in March.
"The Source" is the first anchor-led news program to be featured in the 9 o'clock slot since Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN in December 2021. Following Cuomo's exit, the hour has been held down by a rotating stable of CNN anchors engaging in in-depth interviews and town halls. It also places Collins directly in competition with MSNBC star personality Rachel Maddow's weekly show on Mondays and Fox News' Jesse Watters, whose new primetime show is scheduled to make its 9 p.m. debut on Monday, July 17.
