Joe Scarborough & Mika Brzezinski’s Absences Leave Morning Show Staff ‘Scrambling’ Before Network Rebrand

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00:00Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski's absences leave morning show staff scrambling before network rebrand.

00:07The Married Morning Joe co-host team has sent the network formerly known as MSNBC into a panic.

00:13Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have been missing in action from their morning talk show.

00:19RadarOnline.com can reveal that insiders now claim the couple's increasingly high number of absences

00:24has sparked a workplace meltdown as the network scrambles to cover for them.

00:28Before the network rebrand to MSNBC, Scarborough and Brzezinski missed many Morning Joe episodes,

00:35appearing together in only 70 of 124 shows between May 27th and November 15th.

00:42Scarborough was absent for 29 episodes and Brzezinski for 41, including two straight weeks in July.

00:49Colleagues Jonathan Lemire, Willie Geist, and Katty Kay filled in with Kay joking about hosting alone on August 29th.

00:56The host's short Florida commute fueled speculation that absences might be due to one partner sleeping in while the other went on air at 6 a.m.

01:06Scarborough and Brzezinski's irregular schedules frustrated longtime staff, causing chaos and a lack of leadership,

01:13with producers unsure who was hosting or running the show.

01:16After months of absences, they returned to consistent appearances on November 12th,

01:21just before Comcast spun off the network to Versant, marking their longest streak since Memorial Day.

01:27Scarborough likened the network's new setup to a tech startup and hinted at expanding their personal brands.

01:33Scarborough announced an expansion of the Morning Joe brand with an afternoon newsletter,

01:37The Tea, spilled by Morning Joe, criticizing the MS Now rebrand.

01:43He told Axios the goal is to build a community beyond the 6 to 10 a.m. show.

01:48After meeting with Versant CEO Mark Lazarus and MS Now president Rebecca Cutler,

01:53he said they encouraged entrepreneurial creativity, likening the approach to a tech startup.

01:59Throw S at the wall and see what sticks, take chances.

02:02Let's have fun with this.