 Sharpton had served as host of the slot since July, and was preceded by Cenk Uygur from January to June.Prior to Uygur, the slot had been occupied by "The Ed Show" from April 6, 2009 to January 24, 2011 (eventually moving to the 10 PM slot following Keith Olbermann's departure from MSNBC), and by "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" from March 17, 2008 (as "Race to the White House") to April 3, 2009.Sharpton's involvement with MSNBC began after June 29, 2011 when he became the primary substitute host for "The Ed Show", leading to press speculation that Sharpton could attain his own series on the network in the vein of Rachel Maddow (who attained her own series in 2008 after serving as Keith Olbermann's primary substitute host on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"), Lawrence O'Donnell (who attained his own series in 2010 after having served as Olbermann's primary substitute host) and Christopher Hayes (who attained his own weekend series beginning in mid-September 2011 after having served as a regular fill-in for both Maddow and O'Donnell).