Rachel Maddow going to once-a-week schedule on MSNBC

Rachel Maddow returned to her nightly MSNBC program Monday after being on hiatus since early February but announced that she’ll soon be going to a weekly schedule.

Starting May 2, “The Rachel Maddow Show” will be weekly on Monday nights. 

Maddow took a break from the show to give herself a “reset” and to work on other MSNBC projects, including a movie version of her “Bag Man” podcast and book. 

Reports of Maddow scaling back her schedule have been made ever since she signed a new multi-year deal with MSNBC and NBCUniversal, allowing her a broader range of projects.

The new contract keeps her at the company through 2024.

”I do still have all these other irons in the fire, all these other things I’m working on that I want to bring to fruition, none of them are fast, all of them take a long time, and I’m still working on all of them,” Maddow said on her program Monday.

She clarified that for bigger news events, such as the lead-up to the election, she plans to be in the anchor spot more than once a week. 

“This might change….We will see how things go, but that is the plan as of now,” Maddow said. 

Rotating hosts will fill in the 9 p.m. slot the rest of the week, and there are no immediate plans for a permanent replacement host, according to a network spokesperson. However, there have been reports of potential candidates for the anchor chair, including White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki and a return of Keith Olbermann.

MSNBC will continue to call the time slot “The Rachel Maddow Show” during Maddow’s two-month hiatus, but the hour will be changed to “MSNBC Prime” on the nights Maddow is not hosting. 

Since she’s been on hiatus, viewership for the hour has fallen compared to the same period last year, according to Deadline.

Maddow has anchored the 9 p.m. hour since September 2008 and has been MSNBC’s top-rated personality.