Kaitlan Collins’ Big CNN Debut? Spongebob Squarepants Got Bigger Ratings.

 Kaitlan Collins, who made her name playing gadfly throughout former President Donald Trump’s term in office, didn’t do so well when she got her own show on CNN.

Her debut at 9 p.m. on CNN primetime — “The Source With Kaitlan Collins” — was less watched than a slew of sitcom and animated reruns, Radar Online reported. The show came in dead last against its cable news competition with just 540,000 viewers and wasn’t even the top primetime show on CNN, coming in second.

Nielsen ratings showed that Collins’ show came in behind repeats of the “Golden Girls,” “South Park,” “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” and “Modern Family.” Even “SpongeBob Squarepants” beat the lame show.

Within CNN’s prime time lineup, Wolf Blitzer had 639,000 viewers, Erin Burnett 576,000, and Anderson Cooper 600,000. For comparison outside the network, Fox News’ Sean Hannity’s show — which runs at the same time — brought in 1.95 million total viewers.

Collins was moved into the slot by then-network head Chris Licht, following what he called her “masterful performance” while moderating a town hall with Trump.

“Her new program, officially launching later this summer, Kaitlan will showcase why she’s one of the top reporters and interviewers in the game,” Licht said in a memo. “She is a smart and gifted journalist who we’ve all seen hold lawmakers and newsmakers accountable. She pushes politicians off their talking points, gets real answers — and as everyone who’s worked with her knows — breaks a lot of news.”

But Licht got fired shortly after the change, and that doesn’t bode well for Collins. The former CEO had hoped that Collins, 31, would draw younger viewers — but she didn’t. She pulled just 83,000 viewers in the key 25-54 age demo, which sets advertising. Hannity, meanwhile, had 188,000 and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow nearly tripled Collins with 231,000.

Collins’ big get for her debut was … former Vice President Mike Pence? As is her way, she berated him throughout the interview (forget unbiased journalism), but still made few headlines. Watch below for one cringeworthy exchange.

Collins, spoiling for a fight (and some news), said, “Don’t you think it would have had an effect if you had come out in mid-December, when it was very clear the Electoral College had certified Biden’s win — if you had come out and publicly conceded the election? Why didn’t you do that?”

“Well, I wanted to be respectful. Remember, we had about 60 lawsuits that were working, some of which were still in the courts,” Pence said.

“A lot of them were thrown out by then,” Collins spat.

“Well, yeah, a lot of ’em were not, too,” Pence said.

It’s easy be a gadfly when you’re a reporter with a liberal news network and there’s a Republican in the White House. Others, like David Gregory, formerly of NBC News, made his name after badgering Bush and his press secretaries.

But it’s far more difficult when covering a Democrat. And if all Collins can draw is Pence — who barely registers in the polls for 2024 GOP presidential nominee — for her debut, it looks like its all downhill from here.