The Young Turks return to linear TV with new Fusion show
Cenk Uygur and The Young Turks last had a linear TV presence in 2013, but since then, the team has built an even bigger digital following: TYT videos draw 200 million views a month and have more than 3 billion total views across the TYT YouTube and Facebook pages.
Cassandra Hanks / TYT Network / Cassandra Hanks / TYT Network
But with a historic election upon us, TYT is returning to TV, announcing yesterday with Fusion that ‘The Young Turks on Fusion’ will debut a weekly, hour-long show on college campuses beginning on September 12.
As the Univision-owned Fusion ramps up its political coverage, TYT was the perfect fit: “The Young Turks are no bullshit,” Keith Summa, Senior Vice President of Content and Programming, Fusion, told Found Remote. “They call them like they see them. And that’s exactly what our audience wants in this election. There’s no one better to team up with our Fusion journalists as we visit collage campuses this fall.”
Each week from a different college campus, TYT hosts Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola will be joined by guests from Fusion’s editorial team to discuss the most important election issues. Outside of the discussions, the show will feature ‘man-on-the-street Q&As’ and game show segments.
Long-time TYT fans should not be concerned that the TV version of the show will be toned down.
“We are excited to be back on television, especially with a great partner like Fusion who agrees that TYT should retain the key elements of our digital programming that our audience loves - our authenticity and our ongoing quest to challenge the establishment and the status quo,” said Steve Oh, Chief Business Officer, TYT Network. “As with our digital programming, this TV series is totally unscripted and there are no teleprompters. The two major differences are that we are doing the show in front of large live audiences, which allows the show to feed off their energy, and that we have to go to scheduled commercial breaks.”
Below, the full schedule of stops:
- September 12 / Los Angeles / University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
- September 19 / Washington, DC / The George Washington University
- September 26 / New York / John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York
- October 3 / Michigan / School TBA
- October 10 / Miami / Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus
- October 17 / Location and School TBA
- October 24 / Chicago / The University of Chicago Institute of Politics
- October 31 / New Orleans / Loyola University
- November 7 / Denver / University of Denver
- November 9 / Los Angeles / California State University, Northridge
- November 14 / Boston / Harvard Institute of Politics
- November 21 / Arizona / University of Arizona