It's Official: Ronan Farrow to Host MSNBC Show

[highplainsdem]

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Ronan Farrow – the son of Mia Farrow and a former Obama administration foreign policy official – will host a weekday program on MSNBC beginning early next year. The announcement came Wednesday from MSNBC president Phil Griffin.

The show, which is likely to launch in mid-January, will be closely aligned with Farrow's activism. And he told The Hollywood Reporter during a phone interview on Wednesday that his desire to join a television network was born of conversations he has had with young people who are frustrated with the vituperative immobility in Washington as well as the current state of TV news.

"I think what people carve is more involvement in the story," he said. "There has been a democratization of information. But what they still crave, and what I crave as a TV viewer, is a guide on how people can have agency in the story. And this show is all about empowering people to do that. People want a return to real democracy. They want to respond to these events [in Washington] that there is so much frustration about."

As THR exclusively reported, MSNBC has been in development talks with the 25-year-old Rhodes Scholar for several months. And Griffin first met with Farrow last summer.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/official-ronan-farrow-host-msnbc-648996

[grasswire]

1. Is this the purported Sinatra son? nt

[highplainsdem]

2. Yes.

[Little Star]

3. Yes. My eyes tell me that he is very, very likely Sinatra's son.

[Skittles]

27. oh yes, Frank is there

yes INDEED

[Scairp]

22. I saw that last week or whenever

He looks like the Farrows, and he really looks like his grandfather John Farrow so I can't tell who's kid he is merely by looking at him. He's really tall, unlike the alleged father, Woody Allen, so there is that. I'm still puzzling on why Mia Farrow said this publicly but on the other hand she doesn't like secrets and keeps none from her children so I'm sure she told the boy a long time ago his father could be someone other than Woody Allen. Since they hate him he would no doubt be relieved if she told him his father was some one night stand who's name she cannot remember. Who cares, sounds like he turned out ok. It's never all about genetics that's for sure.

[JDPriestly]

28. So Mia Farrow was furious with Woody Allen for having an affair with Mia's adopted daughter,

Soon-Yi Previn. Farrow and Allen were not married. Soon-Yi was Previn's adopted daughter, not Woody Allen's.

Allen has had three wives: Harlene Rosen (1954–1959), Louise Lasser (1966–1970) and Soon-Yi Previn (1997–present). Though he had a 12-year romantic relationship with actress Mia Farrow, the two never married. Allen also had ten-year romantic relationships with Stacey Nelkin and Diane Keaton.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen

Technically, Woody Allen's relationship with Mia Farrow's daughter wasn't incest. Everyone was down on him for it, but the fact is that Allen did not marry Soon Yi and did not adopt her, and she was not his daughter.

More from Wikipedia.

After ending his relationship with Mia Farrow in 1992, Allen continued his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn. Though Allen never married Mia Farrow[110][119] and was not Previn's legal stepfather, the relationship between Allen and Previn has often been referred to as a stepfather involved romantically with his stepdaughter[120] because she was adopted and legally Farrow's daughter and Allen's son's sister. In 1991, New York Times opined on Allen's family life: "Few married couples seem more married. They are constantly in touch with each other, and not many fathers spend as much time with their children as Allen does."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Allen

Soon-Yi was born in 1970, and married Allen in 1997. She was of age and an adult at the time.

http://www.ontheredcarpet.com/Woody-Allen-on-marriage-to-Soon-Yi:--What-was-the-scandal-/8209443

Mia Farrow supposedly found out about Woody Allen's affair with Soon-Yi in 1992. If she was born in 1970, then she was 22 at the time. Again, she was of age and an adult.

https://www.google.com/webhp#q=Soon-Yi+previn+born

I don't know when the affair between Allen and Soon-Yi started but Mia's accusations of child molestation, etc. apparently failed in the courts.

Allen married Soon-Yi in 1997, and she seems surprisingly right for him; in Barbara Kopple’s documentary Wild Man Blues, she’s alternately deferential and ball-busting—a good combo for overmothered Jewish men. Farrow adopted six more kids. Satchel changed his name to Ronan and is now a human-rights crusader who considers the actions of his father, with whom he has no contact, a “moral transgression.” Everyone has a point of view!

http://nymag.com/news/features/scandals/woody-allen-soon-yi-2012-4/

For most of his life, Mia Farrow presented her son as being Woody Allen's natural child. She made a huge fuss about Woody Allen having married his son's sister.

Woody Allen's reputation suffered terribly.

Allen, now 76, says he's never understood the public's fascination with his relationship with Soon-Yi, now 41. "What was the scandal? I fell in love with this girl, married her. We have been married for almost 15 years now," he told Reuters last year. That juicy scandal, however, cost him relationships with all three of his children with Farrow. Though, in a 2005 Vanity Fair article he says he feels "terrible" about not seeing them and that he spent "millions" in court trying to get some custody of biological son Satchel, adopted son Moses, and adopted daughter Dylan, whom he was accused of molesting. "I never did anything. I would never molest a child," he said at a hearing. The abuse charges were dropped, but Farrow won full custody of the children.

http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/now/woody-allen-mia-farrow-scandal-20-years-later-215205490.html

Now Mia admits (or claims) she was two-timing Allen and had a son by Sinatra (her first husband) while publicly claiming to be in love with Allen.

Wow! Allen's reputation has been slugged through the mud by what may have been quite simply an irrationally jealous woman. I can understand how she felt, but really!

Maybe I am just overly rational for a woman. (Quite possible although some DUers would disagree.) But puhhhleeeze. Let's accept the fact that people change. That love is not a static thing.

I say that as one married to the same man for 50 years. But neither of us stayed the same. We always changed. And who knows what the future may bring?

Let's be kind to each other. Life is hard enough. Love is even harder.

I'd love to see Mia Farrow's declarations, if any, in the lawsuit that Woody Allen supposedly brought to obtain visitation rights with his son, who I assume is Dylan.

[carolinayellowdog]

23. Nancy Sinatra Jr. has all but claimed him as a brother

but Nancy Sr. denies it-- I was astonished to learn she was still living

[Renew Deal]

25. I think it was a joke

[bunnies]

29. Did you see the pic of Ronan downthread?

No way it was a joke.

[Sanity Claws]

4. The first sentence needs a rewrite

I thought it meant that his father was a former Obama admin foreign policy official. I kept thinking, no, this is the alleged son of Frank Sinatra.

[highplainsdem]

6. Yeah, I noticed that, too. Very clumsy writing.

[grantcart]

31. I was trying to see if Woody Allen somehow snuck into the WhiteHouse, lol

[CBHagman]

38. Thank you!

Sometimes syntax is everything.

[highplainsdem]

5. Ezra Klein: "If he's half as good on TV as he is on Twitter..."

https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/390559735352553472

Congrats to @ronanfarrow, @MSNBC's newest host! If he's half as good on TV as he is on Twitter...

[MADem]

7. Frank Sinatra's kid?

He'll be the best one of the lot.

Ol' blue eyes got a lot of glory down the years, but he really couldn't sing very well. He was frequently flat.

He was certainly no Billy Eckstine.

[markpkessinger]

19. Sinatra was known chiefly for his impeccable phrasing n/t

[MADem]

20. I always thought Eckstine and Nat "King" Cole had him beat on that score, as well.

I just never thought he was very good--even in his heyday.

He was the Beiber of his day; that said, compared to Beiber, he was Caruso, but Carusos were a dime a dozen back then.


If the standards of today were applied to those days, he'd have been stuck singing on the street corners, even with the help of organized crime. The Beauty Contest that goes into making a singing star would have left him far behind--he had intractable acne in his youth, and there was none of that ProActive stuff back then!

[irisblue]

8. ''will host a weekday program on MSNBC beginning early next year. The announcement came Wednesday"

so he is getting The Morning Joe slot...then woohoo!!

[MADem]

21. No...."weekday" means anytime during the day. Scarborough is a "MORNING" slot, not a WEEKDAY one.

[irisblue]

26. shoot.....

[highplainsdem]

9. Jon Favreau: "A nation swoons"

https://twitter.com/jonfavs/status/390561026607181825

A nation swoons RT @ZekeJMiller: Inbox: RONAN FARROW JOINS MSNBC AS HOST

[Tom Ripley]

10. Old Blue Eyes is Back

[highplainsdem]

11. MSNBC's press release:

Quoted in its entirety since it is a press release:

http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/msnbc/pressreleases?pr=contents/press-releases/2013/10/16/ronanfarrowjoin1454075.xml

October 16, 2013
RONAN FARROW JOINS MSNBC AS HOST
New Program to Launch in Early 2014


NEW YORK – October 16, 2013 – Ronan Farrow has joined MSNBC as the host of a new show currently in development. The weekday, one-hour program will begin in early 2014. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. Farrow, a writer, human rights lawyer, and former government official will also contribute to msnbc.com and across the platforms of NBC News.

“Ronan has established himself as a provocative, independent journalist capable of challenging people’s assumptions and empowering audiences,” said Griffin. “His show will be a game changer for MSNBC, representing a fresh approach to how we deliver news.”

"This is a new generation of news show for a new, more engaged generation of viewers. It's a show about why the news matters to you - and what you can do to be a part of the story," said Farrow. “I’m excited to shake up people’s expectations for cable news. And to get a ton of Twitter followers.”

MSNBC has been in development talks with Farrow for several months.

Prior to joining MSNBC, Farrow was a foreign policy official in the first Obama administration. He founded the State Department’s Office of Global Youth Issues and reported to the Secretary of State as the United States' first Special Adviser for Global Youth during the Arab Spring revolutions. He also served for two years as a US diplomat focused on the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Farrow has written about human rights and foreign policy for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and other publications. Writing for the Wall Street Journal in 2006, he was among the first to report on the role of Chinese investments in fueling the Darfur conflict, a piece that helped spark a major international divestment campaign. He has also appeared as a frequent commentator on major television networks and as an expert witness before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Before joining the State Department, he served as Spokesperson for Youth at UNICEF, working with youth groups on the AIDS epidemic in Nigeria, on post-war reconstruction efforts in Angola, and in the Darfur region of Sudan.

“Ronan has packed more experience into his 25 years of life than most people have in a lifetime,” said Griffin.

In 2008, Farrow was awarded Refugees International's McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award, for "extraordinary service to refugees and displaced people.” In 2009, he was named by New York Magazine as its "New Activist" of the year and included on its list of individuals "on the verge of changing their worlds”. Forbes Magazine has ranked him number one among its "30 Under 30" most influential people in Law and Policy. Esquire Magazine recently named him the man of his year of birth.

Farrow is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the New York Bar. He conducted doctoral research at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He is two seasons behind on "Breaking Bad".

Follow him on twitter @RonanFarrow.

[Little Star]

33. Wow! He's really impressive.....

But I hope he finds the time to catch up on the last two seasons of Breaking Bad. Everyone needs some fun.

I can't wait to see his show, just wish it weren't a daytime one. Thank gawd for DVRs!

[Manifestor_of_Light]

12. Good thing he stopped using "Satchel".

Woody and Mia named him Satchel after Satchel Paige, the baseball player.

[rug]

13. He graduated college at 15, Yale Law School at 21.

[flamingdem]

14. Wow, he's a dead ringer for Sinatra here:

[eissa]

24. Right?! No way that kid is Woody's

Which I'm sure is a relief to him, considering he can't stand him. I was reading a feature on Mia Farrow in the recent issue of Vanity Fair, and it mentions how Ronan sent out a tweet on Father's Day saying (paraphrasing) "Happy Father's Day, or as we refer to it in our family, Happy Brother-in-Law Day"

[bunnies]

32. lmao.

Hard to believe anyone would think otherwise. Anyone with EYES that is.

[ailsagirl]

36. Did Frank know?

Just curious

[eissa]

37. Don't think so

Her revelation was only recently. Seems like Frank's kids acknowledge it. The only ones in denial are Frank's widow and Woody.

[ailsagirl]

39. Thanks

While FS was pro-repuke (after falling out with the Kennedys), I can rest assured his son is more like his mom. Go, Farrows!!!!

[bunnies]

30. Youre not kidding.

incredible.

[HereSince1628]

15. Another young expert...is MSNBC a farm-league franchise building the future?

[EC]

16. So when are they going to start filling

in the week-ends again?

[munster69]

17. Looking forward to it

A fresh look at politics through the eyes of the young generation.

[calimary]

18. So where will they slot him in? Who is he replacing?

I hope they don't mess with Thomas Roberts. He's proven himself a MOST VALUABLE player lately.

But I do like the idea of adding to our bench strength!

[blueclown]

34. Another member of the lucky sperm club...

[ailsagirl]

35. There is NO resemblance between Ronan and Woody

Ronan, if you'll pardon my enthusiasm, is a looker!!!



AND very bright!!