Scarborough Country

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Scarborough Country

Genre	Opinion/Analysis program
Running time	60 minutes
Starring	Joe Scarborough
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	MSNBC
Original run	April 2003–present

Scarborough Country is an opinion/analysis show broadcasted on MSNBC Monday - Thursday at 9 P.M. ET. It is hosted by former congressman (R - Fla.) Joe Scarborough.

Scarborough Country made its debut in April 2003. On average, Scarborough Country receives approximately 300,000 viewers per night. (Source: Nielsen Media Research, 2003-2005)

Frequent on-air contributors to Scarborough Country are Pat Buchanan, Brent Bozell, and Tony Perkins.

When the show debuted, Joe had taken a very conservative Republican viewpoint on issues, but has recently taken a much more centrist viewpoint, critisizing politicians on both sides of the party lines and being critical of some of George W. Bush's policies.

1 Controversies
2 Tabloid Turn
3 Scarborough Unplugged
4 Broadcasts outside US
5 Notes and references
6 External links

[edit] Controversies

In May 2005, Scarborough criticized Arnold Schwarzenegger by repeating an allegation in a British newspaper that the California governor had advocated blowing up the moon as a way of controlling women's menstrual cycles. Scarborough apologized after learning that it was a comedy skit on the Howard Stern radio show and not an actual Schwarzenegger interview. According to the governor's spokesperson, the newspaper article was also circulated as fact by Democratic members of the California State Assembly.^[1]^[2]

More recently, the show had a non-satirical segment asking "Is Bush an 'Idiot'?", complete with a discussion with political analysts John Fund and Lawrence O'Donnel. ^[3]

[edit] Tabloid Turn

Since the summer of 2006, MSNBC's "Scarborough Country" has turned into a tabloid news program, covering mainly celebrity, entertainment, and crime stories. The show now features segments such as "Must See SC," and "Hollyweird" about celebrities in trouble. The show covered the August 2006 Mel Gibson DUI arrest very extensively. The show has also devoted much time to segments about "The View," Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears' baby, Tom Cruise's baby, and other tabloid stories. The segment is also known for sometimes reairing a regular skit from ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live, "This Week In Unnecessary Censorship".

[edit] Scarborough Unplugged

New MSNBC General Manager, Dan Abrams has started a segment called "Scarborough Unplugged," which features Joe Scarborough engaging in humorous acts. These segments are fictionalized. One included an audition tape for "Dancing with the Stars." Another included Joe destorying Laura Ingraham video tapes. A recent one made fun of MSNBC's Dan Abrams, and another one featured Joe swearing at reporters over a celebrity list.

[edit] Broadcasts outside US

MSNBC and NBC News programming is shown for several hours a day on the 24 hour news network Orbit News in Europe and the Middle East. This includes Scarborough Country and several other MSNBC shows.