Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC president Phil Griffin and the UAE’s Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba threw a 50th birthday bash for Joe Scarborough last night in Washington, DC.

According to Politico, Scarborough thought they were coming to D.C. for a speech, instead, on the rooftop of 101 Constitution Ave., Scarborough was treated to a “this is your life” with friends and family. “We have your life covered here completely, from Boston to Los Angeles to Florida to New York to Washington. Everybody is here,” said Brzezinski.

“You can sit back and relax and just hang with your family because, actually, we are going to talk tonight — and you’re not going to say a word.”

Among the guests: NBC/MSNBC’s Willie Geist, David Gregory, Luke Russert, Mike Barnicle, Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O’Donnell and Lawrence O’Donnell. “Morning Joe” EP Alex Korson and former EP Chris Licht and Licht’s boss’s boss at CBS, Jeff Fager. Also, Walter Isaacson, Dan Senor, Nicolle Wallace, Bob Woodward and more.

(h/t Playbook)

MSNBC released another of its Lean Forward promos, this time featuring Melissa Harris-Perry, who hosts a weekend show on the network. The promo features Harris-Perry talking about society raising children “collectively”:

The promo did exactly what a good promo should: it got everyone talking about it. Former Fox News contributor Sarah Palin commented on it multiple times. It has spread virally online, to both conservative and liberal websites, and Fox News has ran no fewer than five segments on the ad, according to TVEyes. Five segments about a 30 second ad for a competing network.

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As promised, now that the final numbers are in, here is how MSNBC’s new 8 PM show “All In with Chris Hayes” fared. While night one started off relatively strong for the show, it since fell to earth a little bit.

“All In” averaged 651,000 total viewers last week, including 191,000 viewers adults 25-54. Compared to the same week last year (which, it should be noted was a political year, boosting all the cable channels), “All In” is down -25% in total viewers and -14% in the demo. Compared to Q1 2013, a better barometer for MSNBC’s 8 PM average in a non-political year, “All In” is down -27% in total viewers and down -8% in the demo.

The usual caveats apply, as it can take weeks or even months for a show to find any sort of ratings stability.

The AP’s David Bauder profiles MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, and reveals a surprising fact: NBC News bigwigs agreed to let the “Morning Joe” team out of their contract so they could go to CBS.

Both hosts were intrigued at the thought of reaching a bigger audience at CBS, and their producer, Chris Licht, ultimately jumped. Brzezinski, a former CBS News reporter, wondered if they’d have the same freedom.

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Andrea Mitchell has worked for NBC News since 1978, but today her MSNBC program, “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” celebrates its fifth anniversary. She took a look back at some of the program’s biggest moments over the past five years this afternoon:

Ari Melber joins MSNBC’s 3pmET show “The Cycle” as a panelist.

Melber has been with MSNBC as a contributor since 2011. Melber joins S.E. Cupp, Krystal Ball and Touré on the program. He replaces Steve Kornacki, who is moving to weekends to anchor “Up.” Melber continues as a correspondent for “The Nation.”

More from MSNBC after the jump.

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Last night MSNBC launched “All In” with Chris Hayes and CNN launched the week-long panel series “(Get To) The Point.” As usual, it is worth noting that the ratings for night one are probably not representative of where they will end up. There is plenty of time for “All In” to gain viewers or lose them, while “The Point” is still a test show, and may or may not last beyond this week.

“All In,” MSNBC’s new 8 PM show, debuted to a pretty strong 859,000 total viewers and 298,000 adults 25-54. That improved upon its “Hardball” lead-in by over 200,000 viewers. “All In” was also only 12,000 viewers behind the top-rated O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News in the demo, where former Senator Scott Brown was filling in for Bill O’Reilly.

Compared to “The Ed Show’”s Q1 average, “All In” was up +45% in the demo, and down -4% in total viewers.

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MSNBC continued as the number two cable news network in the first quarter of 2013, second only to Fox News in both Total Day and primetime. But like the competition, MSNBC is down across the board compared to the year-ago quarter.

The ratings for Q1 2013 (Nielsen Live + Same Day data):

• Primetime (Mon-Sun): 755,000 Total Viewers / 225,000 A25-54
• Total Day (Mon-Sun): 431,000 Total Viewers / 141,000 A25-54

In Total Day, MSNBC leads CNN by just +29,000 Total Viewers and +19,000 A25-54 viewers. In primetime, MSNBC’s lead gets slightly wider: +165,000 Total Viewers and +51,000 A25-54 viewers.

Compared to the Q1 2012, MSNBC was down -6% in Total Viewers and down -1% in A25-54 viewers in Total Day. In primetime, the network was down -8% and -4%, respectively. Ratings for the cable news networks got a boost in Q1 2012 from debates and primaries during the Presidential election cycle.

It was a mixed bag for the network in primetime compared to the year-ago quarter. Ed Schultz‘s program, which is moving to weekends this month, was down -11% in Total Viewers and -4% in the demo. (Note: percentages are based on a blend of Live +7 and Live +3 data.) “The Rachel Maddow Show” was down -3% in Total Viewers but up +5% in A25-54 viewers, while “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” was up +2% and flat, respectively.

MSNBC grew among younger viewers in its late afternoon programming: “The Cycle” was up +13%, Martin Bashir‘s program was up +41% and “Hardball with Chris Matthews” was up +17% compared to Q1 2012.

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MSNBC’s programming expansion on the weekends continues, as the channel has named Karen Finney as the host of a new program from 4-5 PM on Saturdays and Sundays. The name and launch date for the new show are still to be determined.

Finney has been an MSNBC contributor since 2009, and has a 20+ year career in politics. A former spokeswoman and communications director for the Democratic National Committee, Finney has worked for the Clinton White House and Hillary Clinton’s Senate campaign. She has also served as communications director for the New York city school system, and for the late Elizabeth Edwards.

“Karen’s rich background in both education policy and politics will add a unique point of view to our expanding live weekend programming,” said Phil Griffin, president of MSNBC in a statement.

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Two new shows debuted on cable news last night. One, “(Get to) The Point” on CNN is being given a temporary run at 10pmET this week (think “The Five” with a snazzier set and at 10 O’Clock). If it works, it could be made more permanent.

The other, “All In with Chris Hayes” is MSNBC’s new 8pmET show, replacing “The Ed Show” which replaced “The Last Word,” which replaced “Countdown,” all in the last 26 months.

Some reviews of “All In”

• The Huffington Post:

The first show proved that Hayes is, at least at the outset, making few concessions to the new slot. There were no huge scoops, no big interviews, nothing to instantly crank up the anger from viewers. In what felt like an abridged version of his old show, he had two panel discussions–one about the Keystone pipeline and one about a cheating scandal in the Atlanta public schools–that ran for two segments each. These are not the kinds of hot-button issues that immediately arouse viewer passions, but part of Hayes’ bet is that there is an audience that wants to think about them when they get home from work

• Mediaite:

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