Watch the Premiere of Melissa Harris-Perry's Groundbreaking New MSNBC Show

This morning marked the premiere of MSNBC's newest show, Melissa Harris-Perry, featuring host (you guessed it) Melissa Harris-Perry. As Jennifer Pozner wrote in an article for AlterNet earlier this week, Harris-Perry is now "the first black progressive woman to ever solo-host her own news and politics show on a major corporate TV news outlet."

This couldn’t be more welcome—or more unusual. Think Hannity’s all-male cable cabal was an isolated case? Sadly, no. According toThink Progress, men outnumbered women by a nearly 2-to-1 margin last week in all debates about contraception on MSNBC, CNN, Fox and Fox Business. The twitterverse seemed shocked to learn that female experts were sought out as commentators only 38 percent of the time on a story about women’s health. As a media critic, I was surprised, too—because that’s actually a higher percentage of women’s voices than typically heard across all news categories, not just in stories involving women's bodies.

The hour-long show kicked off at 10am Eastern today and will also run on Sundays in the same time slot. Today's guests include Baratunde Thurston, Chloe Angyal, Dorian Warren, and Toure. Wish the show's team luck, and follow MHP Show news on the show's new blog.

Update: Watch the whole premiere show below.

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