- The Washington Times - Friday, August 9, 2013

MSNBC reportedly has a new prime-time lineup for its fall political talk show programming — starring actor Alec Baldwin.

He’s going to replace the 10 p.m. “Lockup” prison documentary series, Mediaite reported. The show’s not yet titled but the content is determined: Mr. Baldwin will be hosting a political show that allows him opportunity to espouse his liberal leanings.

One MSNBC unnamed source told Mediaite that while the network was a fan of Mr. Baldwin, executives aren’t confirming the show.

Mr. Baldwin would bring a colorful history to the network, though. In June, he took to Twitter to trash a British journalist as a “toxic little queen,” Breitbart reported. The reason? The journalist reported that Mr. Baldwin’s wife was using social media during actor James Gandolfini’s funeral service.

In 2011, Mr. Baldwin was booted from an airplane for refusing to obey an attendant’s directive and stop playing a computerized word game. And in 2007, he was publicly shamed for calling his daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig” in a voicemail message that made the media rounds, Breitbart reported.

Earlier controversies: In 1998, he said he’d like to “stone Henry Hyde to death” for that senator’s involvement in the President Clinton impeachment hearings.

On top of that, Mr. Baldwin filled in as a headline reader and news teaser on MSNBC’s “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” in 2012, using what the Los Angeles Times described as a delivery similar to his “30 Rock” sitcom character: Viewers were left waiting for the punchline, the paper said.

• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.

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