OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former long-serving “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace, who left the network last fall for a gig at the now-defunct streamer CNN+, is now headed to another new media home.
According to reports, Wallace has accepted a gig at HBO Max, where he will essentially do what he was doing at CNN’s spin-off.
“Chris Wallace will get a second chance for his interview show after CNN+ was pulled off the air, with the series reportedly moving to HBO Max. Wallace’s show Who’s Talking To Chris Wallace will move to the HBO streaming service, where new owners Warner Bros. Discovery are focusing their cord-cutting investments,” the Daily Mail reported.
“Meanwhile, the fate of other talent recruited for CNN+ remains up in the air, including food-media star Roman, former NPR host Audie Cornish, ex-NBC News host Kasie Hunt, and sports commentators Jemele Hill and Rex Chapman. Monday marked the first official workday for new CNN boss Chris Licht, who suggested he will move the network away from opinion-led shows that have dominated over the last few years,” the report added.
Wallace recently spoke about all that has happened of late regarding his career.
“I am going to be fine,” Wallace said during a panel discussion hosted by the Common Ground Committee. “I’m in good shape, whether it’s at CNN or someplace else.”
His show, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” aired four times a week since CNN Plus’s launch on March 29.
But he said he was more concerned for the staff that helped him create it.
“I think you’re seeing a lot of the anchors at CNN Plus doing everything they can do to protect the people that were working on their team and to make sure they either get a safe landing at CNN or someplace else,” he said.
Wallace also recently discussed his departure from Fox News, which he blamed in large part on a three-part segment then-Fox colleague Tucker Carlson produced for that network’s streaming service, Fox Nation, in which Carlson suggested that there could have been some government operatives involved in helping foment the Jan. 6 Capitol Building riot.
The three-part documentary, called “Patriot Purge,” became one of his top-rated “Tucker Carlson Originals” productions.
Late last month during an episode of “The Five,” Carlson and co-host Greg Gutfeld trumpeted the success of Fox Nation while joining about re-hiring Wallace to come back to Fox News for that.
“Now that CNN+ is defunct, has Fox Nation considered rehiring Chris Wallace?” Gutfeld asked Carlson.
“We could probably get him at a discount,” he said sarcastically. “And I’ve seen that he interviews a lot of very interesting people?”
“We had a meeting about him this morning in my office,” Carlson quipped. “I was like ‘No he just failed.”
“One of my producers goes, ‘you know he’s Mike Wallace’s son?’” Carlson said while laughing. “Done! He’s got to be good.”
CNN+ was scrapped less than a month after its $300-plus million launch but the concept itself drew a lot of skepticism and even scorn.
“I defy you to find any reasonable person who ever believed that viewers would pay extra money for the dregs of CNN when it was competing for their wallets with Netflix and Disney Plus,” a former CNN producer said to Fox News. “Do you want to watch ‘The Mandalorian’ or extra Brian Stelter?”
The reference to “The Mandalorian” is a nod to the Disney+ streaming service.
“There should be consequences for the CNN executives who rammed the launch through despite Discovery clearly telegraphing their skepticism,” the producer said. “Everything should have been paused the day Jeff Zucker was fired because no one else at that level ever thought CNN+ could work.”
Another insider did not criticize the content but the decision to announce the streaming service after the merger with Discovery was announced.
“I didn’t get this whole thing from day one,” the insider said. “I’m not commenting on the content here. I mean – the basic product itself. I didn’t get why the massive money was spent after a merger had been announced. It was like wheee! AT&T gave us the money, let’s burn it. I don’t understand it.”
