Tuning In

A new ‘Situation’

Conservative TV personality Tucker Carlson was deep into a game of squash earlier this month when he got the call that terrorists had attacked the London subway system.

Within hours, Mr. Carlson found himself in a London studio shooting his new MSNBC talker “The Situation with Tucker Carlson.”

It’s that flexibility that drew the San Francisco native to his latest TV assignment, a nightly political roundup featuring a balanced panel of pundits.

A self-described traditional conservative, Mr. Carlson began his broadcasting career nearly five years ago and still gets flummoxed by reading the teleprompter. Yet he’s worked steadily since entering the field, including high profile gigs on CNN and PBS.

“The Situation with Tucker Carlson,” airing weeknights at 9 on MSNBC, features a list of topical subjects that the host and regular contributors — such as conservative Jay Severin and liberal Rachel Maddow — jaw over, a la ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption.”

And when news breaks, Mr. Carlson jumps all over it —or jumps on a plane to get closer to the action.

Early reviews have been mixed, though all applauded the lack of shouting heard too often on political gab fests.

“I can’t stand incivility. I don’t think it makes for good TV. It’s like watching your parents fight,” says Mr. Carlson, best known in recent months for taking flak from comic Jon Stewart for purportedly engaging in the type of aforementioned histrionics on the now defunct “Crossfire.”

But today’s political labeling isn’t an exact science, he notes.

“The issues are far more confusing than they used to be,” says Mr. Carlson, a staunch critic of the Iraq war. “I agree with the left on a lot of civil libertarian questions and I’m aggressively anti-abortion.”

One matter that isn’t up for debate is that MSNBC sure could use a breakout hit. The network routinely trails both Fox News and CNN in the ratings.

Still, Mr. Carlson reasons that the MSNBC’s underdog status has its perks.

“We’re not waking up every morning thinking how to protect our lead,” he says.

Perry bounces back

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