Ronan Farrow — the man with Woody Allen’s wit and Frank Sinatra’s charm — is closing a deal with MSNBC to become a news correspondent and a future Anderson Cooper-style “face of the network” anchor.
Farrow has been in talks with network execs for months, and is set to become MSNBC’s next new face after Alec Baldwin, who premieres his “Up Late” show on Friday.
Farrow’s deal is part of a move to inject new energy into the left-leaning channel, which has struggled due to its focus on opinion rather than breaking news during the election cycle.
While MSNBC reps declined to comment, a network source tells us, “They’re just finalizing the contract. Ronan is not going to get his own show off the bat, but they are going to develop him, have him work on stories and build his TV news credentials. He’ll work across the whole lineup. He’s 25, everybody knows he’s very bright, but he’s not getting his own show — yet.”
While his TV experience is limited, Farrow is certainly accomplished. A graduate of Yale Law and a Rhodes Scholar, he has served in the Obama administration’s foreign policy department, and has previously appeared on MSNBC and CNN. He’s been a UNICEF spokesman and became a special adviser to Hillary Clinton for global youth issues.
Another TV source told Page Six, “This looks very much like an attention-grabbing move. Just as when Anderson Cooper joined CNN, and everybody was talking about him being Gloria Vanderbil
t’s son, Ronan may be very smart, but he is also a genetic prodigy.”
Farrow has been in the news after his mother, Mia Farrow, told Vanity Fair in a well-timed interview that her son, thought to be her biological child with Allen, was “possibly” Sinatra’s son.
Farrow handled the media storm with humor, tweeting: “Listen, we’re all *possibly* Frank Sinatra’s son.” And in June he took a dig at Allen: “Happy father’s day — or as they call it in my family, happy brother-in-law’s day.” Let’s hope he handles his new TV role with similar wit.