Review: 'Saturday Night Politics With Donny Deutsch'

Despite all the promises by cable news executives that their coverage has changed to reflect the cynicism and inability to stick to the facts style of politics of the Trump Administration, nothing much has changed. The political conventional wisdom commentariat complex still holds sway over much of what you see on cable news, as insiders who have managed to miss just about every major political trend in the past decade still manage to make a living being confidently incorrect.

At first glance, "Saturday Night Politics With Donny Deutsch" might seem like a good choice for those of us hoping to see something new on cable news. Saturday nights are a bit more casual and opinion-filled than the typical primetime weekday shows, primarily because there is just less new reporting to rely on as fodder for the show. And while Donny Deutsch is both an insider and a familiar face on MSNBC, he has shown in the past that while he has his own insider take of the Trump Administration, it is at least a slightly different take than you'll typically hear from that network's contributors. So I had hopes that "Saturday Night Politics With Donny Deutsch" would be a free-wheeling, no-holds-barred attempt to carve out a new "must-see" show for MSNBC.

I understand that it's dangerous to review any news-centric show after one episode. No matter how experienced the host, the show is going to evolve and because of that this take might seem idiotic a couple of months down the line. But given that all I have to go by at this point is one episode and I do get paid to review television...

Based on tonight's episode, "Saturday Night Politics With Donny Deutsch" was a huge disappointment. It was awkward and predictable and mostly forgettable. And while I could see Deutsch was trying to meld his brand management experience with his political questions, it was mostly an unsuccessful effort. The show could well be something extraordinary at some point. But right now, it's a show that is easy to forget.

The hour was broken up into three major segments. About half of the show was a familiar roundtable format, populated by some guests you've already seen fifty times this month. Deutsch was joined by MSNBC contributor Mike Barnicle, Moveon.org Chief Public Affairs Officer Karine Jean-Pierre and Republican Strategist Rick Wilson. The topics were drawn from a wall of ideas presented "Pardon The Interruption-style" and focused on the events of the past week. And that combination was the primary problem with the segments. If you're dealing with old news, then you at least need to bring in new perspectives to the subject. All three of the guests are compelling commentators, but there wasn't one moment in the roundtable where I find myself thinking "Hmm...that's something I hadn't heard before." Ultimately, it all felt like the political news equivalent of watching a bored Garth Brooks sing "Friends In Low Places" for the 2,225th time. Whatever magic there was in the idea was long gone.

Deutsch's next segment was a remote interview with Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, a man who seems willing to appear on any show that will have him. Which is a fine trait for a candidate, but it's a trait which can be a challenge for anyone interviewing him. Viewers have likely already seen him a number of times, so as a show host, the temptation is to get him out of his comfort zone and hope he says something newsworthy. 

Deutsch gave it his best effort and by the end of the interview has finally extracted a bit of an attack on Trump from Buttigieg. But to get to that point, Deutsch had to repeatedly pepper Buttigieg with questions and the resulting interview sounded less like an interview and more like the deposition of an unfriendly witness.

The final segment was a one-on-one interview with fashion mogul Steve Madden, who was sentenced in 2002 to 41 months in prison for stock manipulation, money, and securities fraud. Deutsch brought him on to discuss what convicted ex-Donald Trump fixer Michael Cohen should expect when he heads to jail on Monday. Deutsch is friends with Cohen and revealed that he had brought Madden and Cohen together at his house in hopes that Madden could mentor Cohen on his upcoming incarceration.

It was an interesting idea in theory, but Madden seemed unwilling to fully engage with Deutsch in the discussion. Part of the problem might be that while Madden did have that fall from power, he didn't exactly spend his incarceration destitute and powerless. Before he headed to prison, Madden resigned as CEO from his fashion company and then set himself up as a company consultant. So he drew a $700,000 salary while he was in jail and once he was out he returned to the company as founder and design chief. Which is a much different fate than Cohen, who is entering jail in debt and without an income. 

"Saturday Night Politics With Donny Deutsch" is an interesting experiment in the abstract and as I said at the top of this review, it may grow into something worthwhile a few weeks or months down the line. As for now, the show is the political news program equivalent of the Libertarian Party: a great concept that isn't nearly as fun to experience in the real world.