It’s been more than three weeks since CNN rolled out its new programming. But there’s still no midnight show—the one pitched to Jim Acosta.
Back in mid-January, just before Trump’s second inauguration, CNN chief Mark Thompson started shaking things up. The plan included moving Wolf Blitzer’s "The Situation Room" to the mornings.
What Acosta didn’t know? That move meant he was out. Blitzer and Pamela Brown were taking over his 10 a.m. ET slot.
Thompson offered Acosta a new gig—midnight to 2 a.m. ET. He pitched it as a promotion: two hours instead of one. Plus, the show would simulcast globally on CNN’s other platforms.
It would also air during primetime on the West Coast—9 to 11 p.m. PT. But it meant Acosta would need to relocate from D.C. to CNN’s Los Angeles bureau.
Acosta declined. On Jan. 27, during his final broadcast, he took shots at Trump—no surprise given their history.
Then March 3 came, and the new CNN lineup went live. But no midnight show. That two-hour slot? Still filled by reruns of Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett.
Critics on the left said CNN was pushing Acosta out. They called the midnight slot the “graveyard shift.” Outlets like The New York Times and L.A. Times ran with that narrative.
Thompson denied it. “We wanted Jim to stay,” he said during a media summit last month.
But one CNN insider wasn’t buying the midnight offer as genuine.
“I have heard no discussion or scuttle about the slot being filled at all,” the insider told Fox News Digital.
Still, the source said Thompson does want more live programming overnight. It's part of his vision for a 24-hour live CNN in the streaming age.
Asked if Thompson is looking for a host now, the source said, “I don’t think he is.”
“Mark probably would say that he wants more live overnight, and he hoped Acosta would be first up at that, but since Acosta wouldn’t, Mark will have to wait,” the insider added.
A second source told Fox News the offer was only made to Acosta. No one else was even considered. That’s why the overnight slot still re-airs existing shows.