MSNBC s Hot Ticket
Five years ago this month, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski began co-hosting MSNBC’s savvy, caffeinated Morning Joe, their daily brew of news, chat, and political opinion. And even though they are both married, with children, their on-air chemistry can come across as charged, even flirtatious, the cable equivalent of Nick and Nora Charles. Recently, they’ve been flirting all over the map. First, Joe flirted with the idea of running against Barack Obama. An ex–Florida congressman and a moderate Republican, he conferred with fellow centrists just before the primaries, occasionally shuttling around with his friend Mike Bloomberg. (From time to time, Mika’s father, Zbigniew, Jimmy Carter’s national-security adviser, weighed in with sage advice, as did a handful of George W. alumni.) Next, Joe and Mika flirted with CBS about taking over the network’s perennially laggard morning slot. (After protracted negotiations, CBS went with Charlie Rose, Gayle King—and Erica Hill, since departed as co-host.) Now the pair are flirting with none other than Roger Ailes, the man whose Fox News they battle every morning. To be exact: they have started a film-and-TV production company and the first project they’re developing and peddling is a TV drama about the life and times of their volatile competitor. Philip Seymour Hoffman has been mentioned for the Ailes character; James Gandolfini’s name has come up to portray Ailes’s pal Governor Chris Christie. And just to raise the temperature a tad? After the presidential inauguration in January, Joe (no fan of Mitt Romney’s—”I’ve been very critical”) plans on publishing a memoir that will serve—no joke—as a vehicle to test the waters for a presidential run in 2016. Take that, Mr. Romney.
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