Lizz Winstead, former co-host of Air America’s mid-morning program, Unfiltered, is missing. The first I found out about it was when I tuned in for a bit today and the tag said, “Unfiltered, with Rachel Maddow and Chuck D.” Then I noticed Rachel was hosting the show by herself. I checked the Unfiltered blog tonight and someone mentioned that the NY Daily News had a short blurb announcing that an Air America rep said “We wanted to take the show in a different direction, [and] we thank Lizz for her service and dedication.”

Ouch!

Unfiltered was an acquired taste for me, but over the past few months it has become one of the three shows I listen to regularly on Air America, the other being the Al Franken Show and the Majority Report. Unfiltered always has excellent guests, and thoroughly covers stories not covered elsewhere. Also, Lizz was definitely one of the funniest radio hosts ever and gave a giant spark to the show. That said, I have the totally unsubstantiated feeling that the higher ups at Air America wanted to split the two up, much as a teacher will split up a couple kids who are having a little too much fun joking around in the back of the class. The show sounded much more professional this morning, more like a livelier NPR, but I certainly will miss Lizz. I have a feeling Rachel (and her sometimes co-host, Chuck D) will be more than able to hold her own though, as she’s always right there with the right questions to ask her guests.

Of course, I could be totally wrong, and Lizz might just have said something to piss someone off at the flagship station or elsewhere. The curtness of her departure might lend more credence to that explanation.

In any case, I’m looking forward to hearing the new Unfiltered over the coming months, and I really hope that the parties involved spill the beans as to what happened.