After being rejected by every major network and almost two years after recording a talk-show pilot, Sean Spicer finally has a TV show.
Admittedly, it’s only on Newsmax TV, a downmarket conservative rival to Fox News, but it’s a welcome offer of steady employment for Trump’s first White House press secretary.
The show, to be called Spicer & Co., is scheduled to launch on Super Tuesday, when the highest number of states hold their presidential primaries, which falls on March 3. A press release announcing the new program sent to Page Six seems to tout Spicer’s often controversial reputation, especially during his largely humiliating twirl on Dancing with the Stars. “With interpretations of the dance-floor favorites, Spicer lasted an impressive nine weeks on the popular show,” Newsmax TV’s press release brags. “Spicer is expected to blend the same buzz and excitement with the news of the day.”
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The show won’t feature dancing—we hope—nor will it just be a panel of talking heads and one-sided political debate, according to Page Six, which announced the news. Spicer says he plans to shine the light on the media and call out “fake news,” a term he embodied in his gig as Donald Trump’s spokesman when he, for instance, blatantly lied about the size of his boss’ inauguration crowd at his first press conference.
“There will be a lot of talk about how the news is being covered and segments where we call out the media,” Spicer told Page Six. “But it’s not a media watchdog. It’s more of a discussion—what people talk about at the dinner table.”
Spicer has dabbled in a variety of gigs since he left the White House job in 2017. In addition to a number of cameo appearances at unlikely events like the 2018 Emmys, he wrote a pro-Trump book called The Briefing: Politics, the Press and the President about his time as Trump’s official spokesman. He drew unbridled ridicule during his appearance in the 28th season of Dancing With the Stars, appearing in flamboyant costumes and showing that his dance moves are anything but smooth.
He was recently welcomed back to the White House after Trump tapped him as an unpaid member of his Commission on White House Fellowships along with former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.
Spicer, who was the former communications manager of the Republican National Committee before Trump brought him to the White House, told Page Six that the new program won’t be all about his former boss, even though he is “100 percent” in support of Trump’s re-election campaign.
Spicer says it will feature “Washington insiders, experts, journalists, and power brokers.” It will be taped in a studio near the White House and run exclusively on the conservative news network run by the Newsmax website.
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy echoed Trump’s one consistent area of praise for Spicer—telling Page Six his ratings for White House press conferences were “off the charts.”
