CNN has hired veteran California political reporter and anchor Elex Michaelson to lead a new late-night newscast based in the Los Angeles area.
The network announced Thursday that Michaelson, who left Fox’s L.A. station KTTV last month, will helm a nightly two-hour live broadcast from CNN’s studios on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank starting in mid-October.
The program will air from 9 to 11 p.m. on the West Coast and midnight to 2 a.m. in the east. It will also be carried on CNN International in Europe and Asia.
Michaelson told The Times in an interview that he first pitched the idea of live program for West Coast prime-time viewers to CNN executives 4½ years ago. They passed.
“Sometimes good things happen to those who wait,” Michaelson said.
The timing may be advantageous this time around as California Gov. Gavin Newsom has become an increasingly prominent national political figure with his direct challenges to and social media mockery of President Trump.
Newsom is seen as a potential leading candidate for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Eyes will also be on L.A.-based former Vice President Kamala Harris, who could also make another run for the White House.
Fox 11 anchor Elex Michaelson and former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eating Michaelson’s mom’s baked good at a prior event.
(Elex Michaelson)
Michaelson believes he has interviewed Newsom more than any other TV journalist in the state. Along with his duties as anchor of KTTV’s evening and late-night newscasts, he hosted “The Issue Is,” a weekly program devoted mostly to California issues that aired on several Fox-owned TV stations in the state.
Michaelson’s CNN program, which does not yet have a title, will be the only live cable news show in the post-midnight time slot. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC run repeats in those hours because the number of homes watching television drops off dramatically after 11 p.m. Eastern.
Michaelson’s program will be the first CNN show to be based in Los Angeles since “Larry King Live” ended its run in 2010. (CNN International produced a nightly newscast out of the L.A. bureau that was simulcast on the domestic channel from 2015 to 2018.)
“Fox News @ Night,” the nightly newscast anchored by Trace Gallagher that airs at 11 p.m. Eastern and 8 p.m. Pacific, is the only other national cable news show produced in the city.
Earlier this year, CNN offered the after-midnight shift to Washington-based anchor Jim Acosta, who was a high-profile antagonist of Trump during his tenure as White House correspondent.
Acosta was holding down a midday hour at the time, and the proposed move to midnight was largely viewed as a demotion and a capitulation to Trump in his second term. The plan was presented after Warner Bros. Discovery executives signaled that CNN needed to increase its appeal to Republican viewers.
Acosta chose to leave the network in January instead of taking the role and has been reporting for his own Substack newsletter.
The appointment of Michaelson gives the late-night CNN program a clearer editorial rationale. A native of Agoura Hills, Michaelson has spent his entire journalism career in Southern California, where he is a well-known figure.
He said his presence in Los Angeles will enable to him to book “West Coast thought leaders in politics, entertainment, technology, sports and more.”
Michaelson’s program will launch a few weeks before Californians vote on a proposal to redraw the boundaries of the state’s congressional districts.
“The showdown on Nov. 4 over the issue of redistricting could determine who controls the U.S. House next year and whether there is actually a check and balance on the Trump administration,” Michaelson said. “Although it’s a fight in California, the impact will be felt not just around the country but around the world.”
Michaelson is known for thanking guests who appeared on “The Issue Is” with fresh baked goods from his mother’s kitchen.
He acknowledged that the tradition will be difficult to maintain with a nightly two-hour program featuring multiple guests. “We may need to revise that,” he said.
