Verdict with Dan Abrams was a weeknight primetime program on MSNBC. It marked Dan Abrams’ return to on-air hosting following his tenure as the network’s General Manager. After stepping down from the GM role in late 2007, Abrams launched Live with Dan Abrams. The program was subsequently rebranded as Verdict with Dan Abrams, under which name it aired through its final episode on August 21, 2008.
The show was broader in scope than Abrams’ earlier MSNBC work on The Abrams Report. While legal issues remained a core element, Verdict took a wider view, tackling the day’s most pressing political stories alongside high-profile crime cases and media criticism. Its format centered on Abrams leading an energetic panel of political analysts, legal experts, and journalists through the night’s top stories. In addition to the expert analysts, Abrams offered his own pointed, independent-minded takes throughout.
The show offered several segments, including the recurring, fan-favorite Beat the Press, in which Abrams and his panel critiqued media coverage and called out journalists and cable news hosts for questionable or contradictory on-air moments. Another fixture was the Why America Hates Washington segment, in which Abrams highlighted government failures, cover-ups, and political dysfunction. The Winners and Losers segment rounded out the show’s opinionated identity, offering Abrams’ daily verdicts on the figures who had a good or bad day in the news.
Dan Abrams served as the sole host of the program and its earlier version, Live with Dan Abrams. The show also featured a roster of regular contributors and guests, including MSNBC political analysts Craig Crawford, Joe Watkins, and Lawrence O’Donnell, as well as attorneys Lisa Bloom and Nicole DeBorde.
The program ended in August 2008, when MSNBC announced that Air America Radio host Rachel Maddow would take over the 9:00 p.m. slot beginning September 8, 2008. Following the show’s conclusion, Abrams remained with NBC News in a legal analyst capacity before departing for ABC in 2011.
