CNN Brings Back ‘Crossfire’ With S.E. Cupp, Newt Gingrich, Others

CNN officially announced Wednesday that they will be bringing back the long-running debate program Crossfire with former GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, controversial former White House adviser Van Jones, former Obama adviser Stephanie Cutter, and MSNBC host S.E. Cupp.

Though CNN did not say specifically when Crossfire will premiere, it is set for the fall of 2013.

“Crossfire will be the forum where America holds its great debates,” CNN boss Jeff Zucker said of the network’s decision to bring back the show.

Per CNN’s official release:

“Few programs in the history of CNN have had the kind of impact on political discourse that Crossfire did – it was a terrific program then, and we believe the time is right to bring it back and do it again,” said Jeff Zucker, President of CNN Worldwide. “We look forward to the opportunity to host passionate conversation from all sides of the political spectrum. Crossfire will be the forum where America holds its great debates.”

In addition, all four hosts will appear across the network’s programming and its special coverage surrounding elections and political events.

“Following the successful launches of Around the World, The Lead with Jake Tapper, and New Day, we felt it was the right time to turn our attention next to Crossfire,” said Ken Jautz, Executive Vice President of CNN. “This will be the next step in reinvigorating our lineup of live programs.”

Crossfire was a current events debate program, and one of CNN’s longest-running, airing originally from 1982 to 2005. Generally, it featured both conservative and liberal pundits debating current political and social issues, and more often than not, things got pretty heated.

If they pull it off right, Crossfire will help CNN greatly as the network continues to slowly reclaim fallen ratings while maintaining some kind of distance from their rivals MSNBC and Fox.

As it stands, there aren’t really any debate-format shows on other cable news networks, aside from (maybe) The Five on Fox, which features three conservatives, one “mugwump Libertarian” and one liberal battling out controversial issues.

Crossfire‘s new panel is incredibly diverse, and should make for some interesting debates: Newt Gingrich, conservative, curt, and rough around the edges; Van Jones, an uber-liberal environmental activist; Stephanie Cutter, regarded as “a popular but polarizing face of (Obama’s) campaign,” and S.E. Cupp, a smart conservative firebrand and atheist.

Should make for some interesting debates. Will you be tuning in to CNN’s new Crossfire?