The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle is an American news and politics show that broadcasts every weeknight at 11:00 pm ET on MS NOW. It began on September 6, 2016. Brian Williams hosted the program until December 9, 2021. Starting on December 13, 2021, the show used a different guest host each week. Stephanie Ruhle became the full-time host on March 2, 2022.
History
The show began on September 6, 2016, as a temporary program that summarized the day's election news and previewed upcoming stories that would be important the next morning. It replaced a rerun of All In with Chris Hayes.
This was Williams' second show on MSNBC's evening schedule, following The News with Brian Williams, which aired on the network from 1996 to 2002 before moving to CNBC. Originally, the program aired Monday to Thursday only and, despite its name, lasted only 30 minutes. The final 30 minutes of Hardball aired after this program. At times, the show was extended because of breaking news coverage. In January 2017, the program expanded to Friday nights. On March 20, 2017, it was extended to one hour daily. On April 13, 2017, MSNBC officially made the program one hour long.
Under Williams, the show mainly featured interviews with reporters covering major evening stories, panels with former government officials and subject matter experts, and sometimes politicians. Williams avoided the conflict-filled panels seen on other opinion shows. Interviews with newsmakers were either live or recorded close to air time to keep the content current. Similar to the original Nightline, which focused on the Iran hostage crisis, the program centered on the actions of the Trump presidency. Williams led each broadcast by noting the number of days since the Trump presidency began and how many days remained before it ended. When the Biden administration started, the program began counting the number of days in the Biden administration and focused on its actions.
After the 2016 election, the program continued to air despite being initially described as a temporary show.
NBC News contributors Nicolle Wallace and Eugene Robinson provided commentary on most of the 2016 editions. Wallace also served as a temporary anchor when Williams was unavailable. Wallace's work on the program led to her hosting her own show, Deadline: White House.
Williams announced on the November 9, 2021, episode of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that he would leave NBC News and MSNBC after his contract ended the following month, following five years as the host and 28 years with the networks. Williams' final broadcast was on December 9, when he announced the show would continue with rotating guest hosts, such as Ali Velshi and Chris Jansing, from December 13, 2021, to February 25, 2022.
On January 27, 2022, it was reported that Stephanie Ruhle, who had hosted MSNBC Reports during the rotation, would become the permanent host of The 11th Hour. The first episode with Ruhle as the permanent host aired on March 2. Since Ruhle became the host, the program no longer counted the number of days in a president's administration.
On May 27, 2022, after the Robb Elementary School shooting, the show aired a special episode titled Enough Is Enough, which discussed gun culture in the United States.
On March 18, 2026, it was announced that Ruhle would move to host a new daytime program, and Ali Velshi would take over as the host of The 11th Hour starting in June.
Format
Under Ruhle, the show's "A-Block" includes a short preview, a brief speech, and a long conversation with its "Lead-off Panel," which usually has three guests and Ruhle. The rest of the program covers updates about politics and economics from the day. The show is usually broadcast from MSNBC's Studio 3A, located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. During important news events, "The 11th Hour" may replace a rerun of The Rachel Maddow Show (Mondays) or The Briefing with Jen Psaki (Tuesdays through Fridays).
Guest hosts for The 11th Hour include Ali Velshi, Alicia Menendez, Melissa Murray, Symone Sanders-Townsend, Catherine Rampell, and Ayman Mohyeldin.
Segments on the show include:
– Money, Power, and Politics: A discussion about how money influences politics.
– Keynote: A one-on-one interview with a special guest.
– The Last Thing Before We Go: A segment with positive news stories before the show ends.
Since 2024, the program also airs a "nightcap" segment. This segment, which originally aired only on Fridays, expanded to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays after the 2024 United States presidential election. The "nightcap" summarizes the day's news with a group of guests. The Friday version of the "nightcap" is re-aired on Saturday nights.