MSNBC, Promoting From the Bottom Up

Asked what has been his biggest frustration running "The Abrams Report," Abrams said, "The 6 o'clock time period has always been a very tough time period for that program." The earlier show "has been picking up quite a bit as of late. . . . We're actually getting some traction at 4."

Still, Griffin insists Abrams is the perfect person for the job -- as opposed to, say, someone who has run one of MSNBC's more successful shows, such as "Hardball With Chris Matthews" or "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" (both averaged nearly 400,000 viewers between 7 and 9 p.m. in May) -- because Abrams, who has been with the network since '97 and anchor of "The Abrams Report" since '01, is the ultimate "insider."

"He's always been an insider," said Griffin.

"He's a lawyer and he understands things. He is a quick study; he's always at the front when there's a big legal story: How do we cover it? Who do we send? What are the main issues?"

Kaplan, who lasted little more than two years and left with six months on his contract, was an outsider, hailing mostly from CNN and ABC News.

Capus, Griffin and Abrams have known each other a long time in TV news years. Back in the late '90s and early '00s, Capus was executive producer of MSNBC's prime-time newscast, "The News With Brian Williams," and before that he was the senior broadcast producer for MSNBC's daytime news coverage, beginning with its launch in 1996.

When Capus was named president of NBC News about a year ago, Abrams started sending him e-mails about the state of MSNBC. One of them ran eight pages, according to the Associated Press.

"One particular note was a rather lengthy overview of all of cable news and what the competitors were doing that was smart and what we were doing that was good, bad and otherwise," Capus told The TV Column. "He's brought any number of insights. . . . He's a very competitive guy."

Abrams, who will step down from his show but continue to be NBC News's chief legal correspondent, said he wants to make MSNBC more "vibrant," more "exciting" and "maybe even a bit more irreverent."

"I think newscasts tend to be very predictable, and I hope we can lose some of that predictability," he told The TV Column.

They certainly lost a bit yesterday.