During the running of the show, Melissa Harris-Perry commuted from North Carolina to New York City on the weekends to host, while she remained a professor at Wake Forest University.

[3] According to MSNBC, the program features panel discussions focusing on national politics while exploring the African-American "intersections of culture, art and community".

[7] Harris-Perry encourages viewers to interact with the show via Twitter using the #nerdland hashtag,[8] which she uses to describe an occasional destination for its topic field and intensity of discourse.

[9] Instead of political pundits, Harris-Perry often invites academics, activist Hollywood stars, struggling actresses, makeup ladies, and underrepresented voices as guests.

"[11] Harris-Perry remained a professor of political science at Wake Forest University and commuted to New York City every weekend to host the program.

Harris-Perry and her guests, including actress Pia Glenn and comedian Dean Obeidallah, joked about coming up with captions for the photo.

Harris-Perry stated that she believed the only reason MSNBC was bringing the show back on air was due to people's comments on her notable absences.

Now, MSNBC would like me to appear for four inconsequential hours to read news that they deem relevant without returning to our team any of the editorial control and authority that makes MHP Show distinctive.

[3] Frances Martel of Mediaite noted Melissa Harris-Perry's discussion of cultural issues, and said the show's first episode "brought to the table conversations that are as important as they are interesting and achieved the most difficult thing in cable news today: it is unique.