Rev. Al Sharpton On MSNBC As Permanent Host?

In the wake of Cenk Uguyr's departure as the host of an MSNBC show that comes on in the 6 PM ET timeslot, Rev Al Sharpton has been filling in for the last several weeks on it as a guest host.

This came in the wake of the NAACP, the National Black Journalists Association, the Blackosphere and the African American community getting more than a little perturbed about the 5-11 PM ET blackout that was occurring during the cable news shows broadcast during that time slot on MSNBC and CNN.

They once again fell into the pattern of having liberal-progressive leaning white men and women squaring off against conservative leaning white men and women, while every now and then sticking a Latino or African-American on to add some melanin to the predominately white panel discussing issues of the day from their cultural perspective.

These 5-11 PM shows in addition to being the most watched hours of cable news programming, also drive much of the political chatter and issues discussion. 

I noticed that in the wake of our loud complaints about it, Melissa Harris-Perry just finished a week long stint on the Rachel Maddow Show and Michael Eric Dyson is currently doing the same for Ed Schultz on his MSNBC show as well. 
 
It hasn't escaped MSNBC's attention either that since 'the Rev' has started showing up in that 6 PM ET timeslot, the ratings of the MSNBC Live show have dramatically improved to the point that MSNBC only trails Fox Noise in that timeslot amongst adult 25-54 viewers and they are considering making Rev. Al the permanent host of it.

It's about damned time.  Some of y'all may hate on Rev. Sharpton, but he has much respect and love in the African-American community that he earned for being a tenacious fighter and tell it like it T-I-S is spokesperson for our community on a wide variety of issues.  

But I'm not going to be happy until I see more diversity in these 5-11 PM news shows and more diverse viewpoints are being expressed in those timeslots.