Meghan McCain’s Former Show Received A Review She Called ‘Maybe The Meanest Thing’ Written About Her
Meghan McCain is often the lone conservative voice on The View. As the daughter of the late Senator John McCain, the television co-host is most at home when discussing (and debating) anything within the political realm.
Long before becoming a panelist on the ABC talk show, McCain has served in political media through a plethora of platforms, including as the host of her own show. The short-lived program received some negative reviews, including one that McCain truly took to heart.
‘Raising McCain’
McCain graduated from Columbia University with a degree in art history, yet political matters have always been her sweet spot. Previously interning at Newsweek and Saturday Night Live, the ABC co-host is also the author of several books, a contributing writer for magazines, and penned a blog detailing her father’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
Landing a deal with the start-up cable network Pivot TV in 2013, McCain launched her solo talk-reality TV program Raising McCain hoping to draw in her target audience of millennials.
“I am a socially liberal Republican,” she said in 2013, according to SF Gate. “And in many ways, I have been ostracized from my party. I have been ostracized in the media as well. I am too conservative for MSNBC, and I am too liberal for Fox. Where am I going to go? I’m going to go to Pivot.”
Always been outspoken
McCain is known on The View for strongly voicing her conservative opinions regardless of who or who does not agree with her. This aspect of her personality is nothing new, where she has always taken pride in speaking her mind.
“I always think of myself as the crazy cousin of the political daughters, [the one] you probably want to have a drink with but you maybe don’t want to bring to the serious dinner,” she told the Financial Times in 2013. “I’m certainly comfortable with that.”
The former Outnumbered co-host had grown accustomed to being in the public eye, realizing early on that fame brings a mixed bag. “I’ve had so many opportunities to lead a much more private life and I’ve definitely considered it,” she said at the time. “I don’t know. It’s really fun. The good far outweighs the bad . . . Most of the time.”
Harsh review
McCain’s mission for her Pivot TV show was to connect with millennials and bridge the divide between media and people of her generation.
“I wanted to do a show that’s much more conversation with the audience, because oftentimes I watch TV, and I feel like I’m watching someone who’s preaching to me because they have all the answers,” McCain told SF Gate in 2013. “It’s not stuff that I really am ever drawn to. So I just thought it would be more interesting to talk about issues that I was still conflicted about.”
Yet some critics didn’t agree with her delivery. A particularly scathing review deeply stung McCain. “The media wished that millennials, as a group, could be self-absorbed, entitled and unimaginative; Meghan McCain rose to the challenge,” one reviewer from Salon wrote, going on to say that her show was “the worst of millennial culture” and that she “knows little about history or politics – but keeps getting platforms to spout her ignorance.”
The harsh comments affected McCain, where she called the review “maybe the meanest thing anyone’s ever written about me.”
Though Raising McCain was cancelled after just a few months and Pivot TV ended up folding in October 2016, McCain is having the last laugh. Now a best-selling author, a contributor and political analyst for ABC News, and a co-host on one of today’s top talk shows, McCain pivoted herself into huge success.
