Alec Baldwin ratings: Critics rip ‘boring’ MSNBC talk show premiere

Some may wonder why Alec Baldwin is doing a talk show. Others may be puzzled why it’s apparently set in a steakhouse.

At any rate, “Up Late with Alec Baldwin” premiered at 10 p.m. Friday with about 654,000 total viewers, according to Nielsen. (Yes, evidently 10 p.m. qualifies as “up late” for MSNBC’s audience.)

That performance wasn’t too bad for a Friday night, but it was nowhere near the 1.5 million that showed up for Sean Hannity’s program on Fox News Channel. However, building a talk show following takes time.

PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments

The critics weren’t in a forgiving mood. The premiere featured the former “30 Rock” actor and his guest, New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio, nestled into a green banquette in a set that looked like it was built for a mob-meeting scene in “Goodfellas.”

Slate called it “My Dinner with Alec” and described the proceedings as “willfully wonky.” The Daily Beast called it a “snooze.”

Baldwin’s conservative detractors were predictably even less gracious. Twitter aggregator Twitchy called the show “soporific” and accumulated an array of unflattering tweets, many describing the show as “boring.”

Did you catch “Up Late”? What did you think of Baldwin’s performance?

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