Melissa Francis is a favorite around here. Readers recently favored the host of CNBC’s On The Money in our most popular poll ever, where she beat out competing CNBC starlets like Erin Burnett, Becky Quick and Maria Bartiromo. We’re frequent guests on her show, so we’re hardly impartial. But clearly OTM’s brand of high-energy, edgier business reporting is close to DealBreaker’s heart. If only it weren’t on during happy hour!
Market Watch’s Jon Friedman profiles Francis in his latest column. He tells the tale of a child star gone good. When still a wee lass, Francis played Cassandra Cooper on Little House on the Prairie. She describes herself to Friedman as a ham on the set, craving attention. Michael Landon, also known as ‘Pa’to viewers, would entertain the youngsters on set by puting a frog in his mouth, and letting it leap out just as they were about to say their lines.
Francis went from acting to Harvard, where she studied economics and got mixed-up with the business of business reporting. She worked as a summer intern to Michael Jensen, a long-time NBC News financial correspondent. When she landed at CNBC, she was first assigned to be an energy reporter. And here’s where the story get’s interesting.
Early in her CNBC career, she covered an OPEC meeting in Vienna, trying hard to gain the trust of the influential Saudi delegation. “After enduring several verbal exams on my knowledge of the space, I was invited to the big-night-before-the-meeting dinner,” she recounted by email. Her CNBC colleague Steve Liesman had stressed that the dinner was a big deal. “He said the outcome of the meeting [whether the cartel was going to change the quota and by how much] is usually revealed to one reporter at dinner the night before the meeting. It was sushi, which I can’t stand. So I was trying to swallow something with eyes (whole) when the minister’s right-hand man said, ‘That’s why we’ll cut by 500,000 barrels a day tomorrow.’
“Needless to say I nearly choked (really). I had heard that from another delegate shortly before, so this was the confirmation I needed. I excused myself and went to the ladies’ lounge with my cell and called our assignment desk. I kept saying into the phone, ‘Tell Maria [Bartiromo that] OPEC’s gonna cut by 500,000 barrels a day! Tell Maria OPEC’s gonna cut by 500,000 barrels a day!’ Maria went on with it. It turned out to be right, and I was suddenly no longer the new kid on the OPEC block.”
Friedman answers one crucial question we’ve had: whatever happened to “Missy.” As a child actress, she was known as Missy. And we’ve had reliable reports that she was still known by the nickname into college. According to Friedman, it was Michael Jensen who told her to drop it, presumably to make her more credible as a financial reporter.
The question Friedman doesn’t answer is: will she or won’t she? There’s been a spate of defections from CNBC lately, as reporters and anchors leave to join the fledgling Fox Business Channel. Is Melissa Francis going to join them, as some have whispered? If he knows, Friedman isn’t telling. His column sounds ambivalent.
“You could make a case that her CNBC bosses have overlooked her, too, even though they have given her her own show,” Friedman writes. “For her part, Francis is happy to hold down the 7 p.m. slot and evidently has a good time doing interviews with a variety of people.”
So the question of Will She or Won’t She remains open. For now.
CNBC’s Melissa Francis isn’t over the hill [Market Watch]
I heard she’s a big Ayn Rand fan
when I read ‘fish eyes’ and ‘frog mouths’ I thought for sure you were referring to her face
She smacked up Barney Frank so she’s a star in my book.
so did I.
Carney should quit pandering to fringe personalities of mainstream tv journalism.
We let her in the dinner b/c she is blond.
Carney’s just trying to get in her pants
She’s keeping up the tradition of smart right wing hotties on CNBC. Watching Dems, Socialists, and protectionist Repubs get smacked around by girls they think are going to give them cupcake interviews is awesome! It’s easier on them to go on Kudlow cause he needs people to shout at him and his friends.
she looks like one of those Korean human look alike robots
Maria Bartiromo played Chachi’s niece on “Happy Days.”
I don’t really care so much about her,she can go.On many occasions ,she is rude to her guests.Just knowing how to stop your guests from talking bec. it’s running out time without sounding rude
or disrespectful is nice to watch.At 7 P.M there are other interesting shows to watch…
and she looks like a tranny
I dunno. She does it for me. Something about that flaxen hair and cold, cold stare.
She should join FOX , she would be a star there instead of an afterthought at CNBC
I heard she was one of the 2 or 3 CNBCers to have a role on Seinfeld, with Jane Wells being another and Ron Insana with a starring role before he slimmed down. Anybody remember who she played? Was it man-hands?
Finally, an official link….and yes Carney, you can go..just wear sunglasses and a hat
http://www dot ronpaul2008 dot com/events/new-york-city-evening
I can’t stand MF and thought she must be a redneck right-winger, the way she taunts people she disagrees with.
She also has a horse face, an ugly voice, and nothing to say. Then, she lapses into sweetness and little girl good manners.
She is no star, I can’t believe she has her own show, or that another network would want her. What are we watching when she’s on? A Void.
Francis has a horseface, fish eyes and a Joker mouth…plus she sounds like Kermit with a permanent cold. Nasally, obnoxious and way overrated – this “child actress” tramp belongs on Fox Business. Funny thing she’s exactly the type of girl who walks around Manhattan thinking she’s hot. Not.
She is THE MOST ANNOYING HOST on CNBC. Her voice is like nails on a blackboard. She is completely self-absorbed. Melissa, your viewers don’t give a damn if you are naughty or nice. Why is CNBC so focused on hot babes, which she is not, by the way.
Surely, there is someone out there who can replace her. Get rid of Kudlow, too. I have to listen to your show all day in the office, and those 2 make me want to storm out of the building. Please replace MF. What a great Christmas gift that would be.
She is THE MOST ANNOYING HOST on CNBC. Her voice is like nails on a blackboard. She is completely self-absorbed. Melissa, your viewers don’t give a damn if you are naughty or nice. Why is CNBC so focused on hot babes, which she is not, by the way.
Surely, there is someone out there who can replace her. Get rid of Kudlow, too. I have to listen to your show all day in the office, and those 2 make me want to storm out of the building. Please replace MF. What a great Christmas gift that would be.
She is THE MOST ANNOYING HOST on CNBC. Her voice is like nails on a blackboard. She is completely self-absorbed. Melissa, your viewers don’t give a damn if you are naughty or nice. Why is CNBC so focused on hot babes, which she is not, by the way.
Surely, there is someone out there who can replace her. Get rid of Kudlow, too. I have to listen to your show all day in the office, and those 2 make me want to storm out of the building. Please replace MF. What a great Christmas gift that would be.
She is THE MOST ANNOYING HOST on CNBC. Her voice is like nails on a blackboard. She is completely self-absorbed. Melissa, your viewers don’t give a damn if you are naughty or nice. Why is CNBC so focused on hot babes, which she is not, by the way.
Surely, there is someone out there who can replace her. Get rid of Kudlow, too. I have to listen to your show all day in the office, and those 2 make me want to storm out of the building. Please replace MF. What a great Christmas gift that would be.
She’s Eye Candy and I live it! We love you Missy!
she’s cool and has a good sense of humor, unlike most of the gasbags on cnbc. this just in, they all interrupt and dont listen, just flap their yap
go get the $$ from murdoch, girl
Sorry, but Melissa Francis is a phony.
Sometimes, however, you can discover her real personality when the camera isn’t on her and she doesn’t know that viewers can hear her.
She’s one very judgemental little bitch.
What a phony.
Melissa Francis is the best reporter on CNBC besides Dylan – she is on top of her questions and actually understands what she is asking and when her guests are just bs’ing. She has an edge – sure it is cocky but it is also intelligent – for once – half of the blondes on tv might as well be talking about shoe prices – they have no idea what they are doing.
Terrible. The worst interviewer on CNBC. Sure, an interviewer has an obligation to us to ask the tough questions. Clearly and briefly. Then, get the hell out of the way. We came to listen to guest view points, not so-called-interviewers aching to get in front of our orbs and spout political viewpoints, regardless of the direction of those personal views.
We’re in front of our sets on weekdays because we’re serious and not looking for so-called entertainment. Seriously.
And forgive me for being serious. But, Melissa Francis, arghh! A waste of time and offensive….
Terrible. The worst interviewer on CNBC. Sure, an interviewer has an obligation to us to ask the tough questions. Clearly and briefly. Then, get the hell out of the way. We came to listen to guest view points, not so-called-interviewers aching to get in front of our orbs and spout political viewpoints, regardless of the direction of those personal views.
We’re in front of our sets on weekdays because we’re serious and not looking for so-called entertainment. Seriously.
And forgive me for being serious. But, Melissa Francis, arghh! A waste of time and offensive….