''Way Too Early with Jonathan Lemire'' is an American morning news show that airs weekday mornings on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

. The network has had shows with the title ''Way Too Early'', both with and without the name of the host at the time, during two different time periods. The first incarnation of ''Way Too Early'' premiered on July 27, 2009, hosted by Willie Geist. It was later hosted by a variety of

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

on-air talent, including Thomas Roberts and others on a temporary basis, including Ayman Mohyeldin. The final host was Chief White House Correspondent Chris Jansing. It ended on August 12, 2016, as its lead-in program '' First Look'' was expanded back into the full hour and rebranded as ''Morning Joe First Look'' to build continuity with the later program. Another apparent reason for the name change was that the 5 a.m. timeslot had become nearly universally programmed as a morning news slot on local television stations in both the Eastern and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Time Zones, making the title ''Way Too Early'' an artifact. On September 10, 2020, it was announced that ''Way Too Early'' would return to the air with Kasie Hunt as the new host, starting on September 21. On July 16, 2021, Kasie Hunt announced she was delivering her final broadcast and would be joining

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

. On October 25, 2021, MSNBC announced that

Jonathan Lemire Jonathan Lemire (born November 28, 1979) is an American journalist and political correspondent. He is currently the White House bureau chief of Politico and is the host of MSNBC's morning news show ''Way Too Early''. Early life and education Le ...

would be the new host of the show.

History

Phil Griffin Philip T. Griffin (born November 27, 1956) is an American television executive, who from 2008 to 2021 served as president of MSNBC, a United States cable news channel. Early life The youngest of four children, Griffin grew up in Chappaqua, Ne ...

, President of MSNBC, announced the show on July 15, 2009, and described it as a "pre-game show" for ''Morning Joe''.

Mike Barnicle Michael Barnicle (born October 13, 1943) is an American print and broadcast journalist, and a social and political commentator. He is a senior contributor and the veteran columnist on MSNBC's '' Morning Joe''. He is also seen on NBC's ''Today Sh ...

often filled in for original host Willie Geist, jokingly referring to the show as "''Way Too Old'' (or ''Elderly'') with Mike Barnicle", while

Peter Alexander Peter Alexander may refer to: * Pete Alexander (born Grover Cleveland Alexander; 1887–1950), American baseball player * Peter Alexander (Shakespearean scholar) (1893–1969), professor of English language and literature at the University of Glasgo ...

also covered for Geist. On September 24, 2012,

announced that Geist would be named co-host of the 9 a.m. hour of '' Today'', filling the co-host slot formerly held by Savannah Guthrie (who now anchors the 7-9 a.m. portion of the morning program). The original executive producer was

Chris Licht Christopher Andrew Licht (born October 22, 1971) is an American television newsman and producer. Since May 2022, he has been the chairman and CEO of CNN. He is best known as the showrunner and executive producer of ''The Late Show With Stephen Co ...

, who was also the co-creator and executive producer of ''

Morning Joe ''Morning Joe'' is an American morning news and liberal talk show, airing weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, Eastern Time on the cable news channel MSNBC. It features former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough r ...

'' before leaving MSNBC to become executive producer of ''CBS This Morning'' and Vice President of Programming at CBS. ''Way Too Early'' was not branded "Brewed by

Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...

" like ''

'' until the sponsorship deal expired in September 2013. Both shows had similar graphics packages, are broadcast from the same set, and frequently reference each other. On May 8, 2013, MSNBC announced that CNBC reporter

Brian Shactman Brian A. Shactman is an American journalist for CNBC and MSNBC. Biography Shactman grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts, the son of Nancy and David Shactman. He graduated from Phillips Exeter AcademyThomas Roberts would be the new regular host of ''Way Too Early'' starting on January 13. Roberts left in mid 2015 to do various daytime anchor duties, with no guest host announced. ''Way Too Early'' aired its final regular edition on July 22, 2016, from July 25 to August 12, 2016, ''Way Too Early'' expanded to 1 hour, taking over ''First Look'' briefly. The next Monday, ''Way Too Early'' became ''Morning Joe First Look'', with a few former ''Way Too Early'' segments blended into the second half-hour. On September 10, 2020, MSNBC announced it would relaunch ''Way Too Early'', with Kasie Hunt as the new host, effectively replacing ''

Morning Joe First Look ''Morning Joe First Look'' (formerly ''First Look'') was an American breakfast television airing on MSNBC. It was broadcast live on weekday mornings at 5 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, and competed with CNN's ''Early Start'' and Fox News' ''Fox & Friends ...

'', starting on September 21. On July 16, 2021, Kasie Hunt announced she was delivering her final broadcast. Way Too Early had no permanent host until October 25, 2021, when MSNBC and Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announced that

will be the new host of the show.

Segments

Regular segments on ''Way Too Early'' have included: *Three Questions – Beginning the show with three video clips of newsworthy events from the previous day, and posing an open-ended question relating to them. *The News – A fast-paced round-up of the previous day's and overnight news. *All Up In Your Business – Business and market-related news, with analysis from the

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

bureau. *The Weather – National forecast from The Weather Channel, currently provided by NBC meteorologist

Bill Karins William J. Karins (born April 14, 1974) is an American meteorologist, working for NBC News. He is currently seen primarily on NBC's ''Early Today'' and '' Top Story with Tom Llamas''. He also occasionally reports weekdays for MSNBC's '' First L ...

. *Sports – Highlights of the top sports stories. *Morning Buzz – A "wake-up call" phone segment to a prominent figure, celebrity, correspondent, or politician to discuss a news topic. *Sound Smart – Random fact or some other piece of information to help you "sound smart" during the day. *The Cooler – Soft news stories and other conversation starters. *Louis Burgdorf from the Control Room – Near the end of the program, Burgdorf rounds up feature, offbeat and entertainment headlines from the program's Rockefeller Center control room. *Why Are You Up? - Viewers are asked to write in with their personal reasons for being up so early.

Hosts

* Willie Geist – (2009–2012) *

Amy Holmes Amy Mulenga Holmes (born July 25, 1973) is a Zambian-born American journalist and political commentator. Holmes co-hosts, with fellow commentator Michael Gerson, a politically conservative-oriented talk show on PBS titled ''In Principle.'' She is ...

– (2015–2016) * Chris Jansing – (2016) *

Frances Rivera Frances Rivera (born 1970) is a Filipino-American journalist and television news anchor. For ten years, until August 2011, she was a television reporter and anchor for Boston's NBC affiliate, WHDH. From 2011-2013, she was a morning news anchor fo ...

– (2016) * Kasie Hunt – (2020–2021) *

- (2021–present)MSNBC announces on October 25, 2021 that Jonathan Lemire will be Hunts replacement.

Substitute hosts

Substitute hosts for the show have included

Luke Russert Lucas Russert (born August 22, 1985), best known as Luke Russert, is an American broadcast news correspondent, who worked for NBC News from 2008 to 2016. His reporting was seen on ''NBC Nightly News'', ''Today (U.S. TV program), TODAY'', NBCNews. ...

, Savannah Guthrie,

Jonathan Capehart Jonathan T. Capehart (born July 2, 1967) is an American journalist and television commentator. He writes for ''The Washington Posts ''PostPartisan'' blog and is host of '' The Saturday/Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart'' on MSNBC. Background ...

, Jonathan Lemire,

Alicia Menendez Alicia Jacobsen Menendez ( ; born July 2, 1983)Alex Witt Alexandra E. Witt (born April 9, 1961) is an American television news journalist based in New York City who currently hosts the television news program ''Alex Witt Reports'' from 12pm to 2pm on MSNBC, where she previously hosted ''MSNBC Live'' a ...

, Sam Stein and Mark Halperin, with

and Louis Burgdorf having hosted the entire program.

References

External links

* {{MSNBC programming MSNBC original programming 2000s American television news shows 2010s American television news shows 2020s American television news shows 2009 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings 2020 American television series debuts American television spin-offs English-language television shows American television series revived after cancellation