Lou Dobbs Tonight - History

History

Lou Dobbs Tonight began with the name Moneyline with the premiere of CNN, and was CNN's main financial show for over 20 years, for a large portion of those years aring on CNN International as well.

In late 1997 Dobbs hired former ABC News and NBC News Executive Producer David Bohrman to turn the program into a more general evening newscast, which would be called "The Moneyline NewsHour." The program was half financially focused, and half general news. It was the first regular program at CNN to have its main control room outside of Atlanta.

As the show moved more towards general news and economic and political commentary, it was renamed Lou Dobbs Moneyline and then Lou Dobbs Tonight. The show was among CNN's most watched.

On November 4, 2006, a taped weekend edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight, entitled Lou Dobbs this Week, began airing. The weekend show, which aired every Saturday and Sunday night, discussed a variety of heated issues from the past week and the week ahead. The weekend show has since been canceled.

On November 11, 2009, Lou Dobbs left the network, telling viewers that the night's episode of Lou Dobbs Tonight was his last and that "some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN". Although he had a contract with CNN until the end of 2011, CNN agreed to release him early.

After his resignation, the show was temporarily replaced by CNN Tonight, a news program hosted by John Roberts and later Erica Hill which featured reports filed by reporters who had filed reports for Lou Dobbs' program. On January 15, 2010, CNN Tonight was displaced by The Situation Room in a scheduling shift as a result of the premiere of Rick's List. John King's new program, John King, USA debuted in Lou Dobbs' timeslot on March 22, 2010.