TVNewser has learned that former New York governor Eliot Spitzer will be substitute hosting for Dylan Ratigan today on MSNBC at 4pmET.

Spitzer, who resigned from office amid a prostitution scandal, has increased his TV news appearances as he considers — or at least does not rule out — a return to politics telling Fortune magazine, “Right now, I can tell you I have a family that is in one piece… That’s a measure of success after what we went through.”

MSNBC’s Monica Novotny will be the news anchor on set during today’s show.

Anchor Carlos Watson has been removed from the 11amET hour of MSNBC’s dayside programming effective immediately. Mediaite’s Rachel Sklar confirmed the news today and reported that Watson will stay on as a contributor. At present, it is unclear who will replace him, but TVNewser will be keeping a close eye on that situation.

Watson became a dayside anchor for MSNBC in March, and was named host of the 11amET slot just a short time ago in mid-June. The chief competition at 11amET was FNC’s “Happening Now” and “CNN Newsroom.”

While somewhat quiet, Watson’s tenure was not without some contention. In May, TVNewser reported that MSNBC producers had been asked to avoid mentioning Watson’s “The Stimulist” site during daytime hours, though some features from the site such as the “C-Note” became a part of “MSNBC Live” once Watson began anchoring. “The Stimulist” is currently on hiatus.

> UPDATE: TVNewser has confirmed with MSNBC that a new anchor rotation will begin for Watson’s slot starting this week with with Tamron Hall and Monica Novotny anchoring on Tuesday and Hall and Alex Witt anchoring Wednesday-Friday.

For weeks we’ve monitored the growing escalation of a not-so-average Joe feud between MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and CNBC’s Joe Kernen, which has come to a head in the past two days.

After an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box yesterday in which MSNBC anchor Monica Novotny declared Kernen the true “Morning Joe,” she was banished from the MSNBC show. Then CNBC’s Erin Burnett, refusing to take sides, was silenced during her regular MSNBC business segment.

But today, everything changed. Novotny went on CNBC to “retract my statement yesterday,” while wearing an MSNBC “Morning Joe” shirt. Willie Geist (aka Switzerland) played a crucial role in negotiating the reconciliation.

Scarborough forgave Novotny, but not everyone was ready to set differences aside. Mika Brzezinski chimed in calling her “Monica Pelosi.” Ouch!

Stay tuned. We hear more is coming Monday.

Click continued to to see today’s appearance by Novotny, featuring a Glenn Beck mention…

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