Brian Steinberg March 4, 2020
It’s fair to say MSNBC had a “Hardball” problem. Perhaps it wasn’t just the one everyone was talking about.
Chris Matthews’ growing series of on-air gaffes in the midst of intensifying coverage of the 2020 campaign made keeping him on the air difficult for MSNBC executives, as did a litany of troubling stories about his behavior toward female guests on set and behind the scenes. Yet the show itself, based on a concept that worked in the late 1990s, was also becoming outdated.
More from Variety
Chris Matthews Departs MSNBC's 'Hardball' Amid Controversy
Matthews had a long tenure as a top political insider, working as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and chief of staff for the very influential Tip O’Neill when he was the Speaker of the House. But he gained early momentum in TV as an occasional panelist on :”The McLaughlin Group,” whose host, John McLaughlin, helped blaze a trail for programming led by a moderator who wasn’t afraid to butt in; who made nicknames for his panelists part of the show; and who viewed political discussion as a sort of combat theater for Beltway aficionados.
Chris Matthews carried on many of those traditions. On “Hardball,” his pugnacious enthusiasm for politics often got the better of him, prompting him to interrupt his guests, or at the very least, talk over them as they tried to respond to his questions and provocations. This wasn’t some persona he played on air. Matthews had a palpable love for talking about the political game, and often could not stop himself from chatting endlessly about it. Some interviews with him could turn into monologues.
And while “The McLaughlin Group” recently returned without its titular host, who passed away in 2016, “Hardball” continued in much the same way it had over the years since Matthews got his own show on the now-defunct “America’s Talking,” the cable network that was eventually transformed into MSNBC.
That isn’t the format MSNBC has been most enthusiastic about in recent years. Behind the scenes, executives at the network and in the upper echelons at NBCUniversal have kept an eye on both Brian Williams’ “The 11th Hour” and Nicolle Wallace’s “Deadline: The White House.” Both shows keep the “salon” concept of a host juggling multiple guests burnished by “McLaughlin” and “Hardball,”, but with a significant twist: Wallace and Williams make their contributors the stars of the segments, praising their credentials and their proximity to the swirl around whatever topic might be under discussion.
Williams gives considerable time to telling viewers about his guests’ backgrounds, the details of which are printed upon cards he carries with him to his anchor desk. Wallace takes so much pride in her bookings that she spends precious time after her broadcasts tweeting out clips from her program and thanking the guest at the center of each one.
There may be other reasons to put “Hardball” in the shed. In 2019, the show ranked third in the key audience demographic favored by advertisers, people between 25 and 54. According to Nielsen, “Hardball’s” tally in the category fell below that of time-slot rivals “The Story with Martha MacCallum” on Fox News Channel and “Erin Burnett Outfront” on CNN.
Guessing who might eventually take over the “Hardball” slot is easy. Anyone who likes can take a look at the MSNBC daytime schedule and throw their favorite anchor into the mix.
But there is some reason to consider Wallace, whose 4 p.m. ratings in the demo were tied with those of time-slot competitor Jake Tapper in 2019, but who had a bigger overall audience than either CNN’s Tapper or her other rival, Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto (Cavuto had better numbers in the 25-to-54 audience). MSNBC executives have mulled the idea of expanding her “White House” to two hours, and a rejiggering of the schedule could use Matthews’ hour to do that (providing Wallace wants to work a later schedule).
There has been some press speculation about MSNBC weekend host Joy Reid taking the role, and that is certainly possible, as Reid has filled in for many of the network’s primetime hosts. But Reid’s “A.M. Joy” is one of MSNBC’s best-performing shows on weekends, where the network is placing more emphasis on programming in an effort to beat CNN in the demo.
MSNBC has also been in early talks with former Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith about a potential role, and Matthews’ departure would seem to provide an opening the two might find worth discussing. Smith’s non-compete with Fox News is expected to come to an end in June or July. MSNBC is at present expected to fill the 7 p.m. hour with various anchors.
No matter who ends up with the slot, it’s a fair bet the “Hardball” format won’t continue with them. Like “Crossfire,” the long-running CNN staple that pit blue versus red for more than two decades, the show had its moment in the sun. If an anchor should emerge who can take an aggressive stance like Matthews and bring the audience along once again, well, perhaps MSNBC will take another swing.
Chris Matthews Departs MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’ Amid Controversy
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor VARIETY
CREDIT: LARRY MARANO/SHUTTERSTOCK
Chris Matthews is abruptly stepping down from MSNBC’s “Hardball” amid scrutiny of recent on-air remarks as well as speculation about behind-the-scenes behavior.
The veteran anchor and political operative said on his program Monday night that he was leaving the cable-news outlet, putting an end to a long-running show that was featured on three different networks and part of the news landscape since 1994. Monday’s broadcast is Matthews’ last, and a rotating group of anchors is expected to lead the hour until MSNBC executives come up with more definitive plans.
”Let me start with my headline tonight: I’m retiring,” said Matthews, opening his first and final segment on the program. He added: “After conversations with MSNBC, I’ve decided tonight will be my last ‘Hardball.’ Let me tell you why: The younger generations out there are ready to take the reins.” He suggested younger people were bringing “better standards than we grew up with – fair standards” to the workplace, and acknowledged he had in the past addressed women in an outdated manner. “For making such comments in the past, I’m sorry,” he said.
In less than two minutes, he signed off and handed over the hour to MSNBC anchor Steve Kornacki, who seemed taken aback by the assignment.
Matthews had been under close watch by critics, apologizing last week after making an awkward comparison on air between Senator Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucuses and the Nazis’ World War II takeover of France. The remark prompted public outrage from Sanders aides, and fanned complaints about MSNBC’s coverage of his campaign. “I’m sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electoral result of which you were the well-deserved winner,” Matthews said in an on-air mea culpa to the politician.
Adding to the recent spotlight: a female journalist last week wrote an account in GQ alleging Matthews made inappropriate remarks to her while she was getting ready to appear on this show. That resurfaced reports that Matthews had been reprimanded in 1999 after a similar incident that resulted in a settlement to an employee, as well as claims that Matthews treated female politicians less respectfully.
Some of the recent attention sped up discussions that had been taking place between the anchor and MSNBC about when he would retire, according to a person familiar with the matter, resulting in a sooner-than-expected departure. Matthews is not expected to host any sort of special program looking back at his years on the air.
“Hardball” occupies valuable real estate. At 7 p.m., it funnels viewers into MSNBC’s primetime lineup, where advertising costs more and the cable-news networks fight with one another for the medium’s biggest audiences. MSNBC has in recent months contemplated a shift of some of its late-afternoon programs, and the absence of “Hardball” on its schedule could help those plans gain traction. One option executives have considered is expanding Nicolle Wallace’s program “Deadline: White House” to two hours from one. Her show currently airs at 4 p.m. , followed by Chuck Todd’s “MTP Daily” and “The Beat with Ari Melber.” MSNBC has also been in recent discussions with former Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith, who is believed to want to return to the news business with a show that would rely heavily on no-nonsense reporting.
He built a cable-news franchise in an era when there were fewer of them, and maintained it for more than two decades. “Hardball” relied on Matthews’ long years spent in Washington, where he worked his way up from being a staffer for various Democratic candidates to a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and chief of staff to Tip O’Neill, the durable Speaker of the House for a decade. The show relied on its host’s penchant for being pugnacious, though not enough on most nights to distract from discussions of the political cycle. “Let’s play Hardball,” Matthews would say each night to open the proceedings.
“Hardball” got its start on the cable network once known as “America’s Talking” in 1994.” It was based on the host’s first book, “Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who Knows the Game,” which was released in 1988. “Hardball” would move to CNBC in 1997, and then to MSNBC in 1999, where it has stayed for more than 20 years. For a time, Matthews was parodied regular on “Saturday Night Live,” with cast member Darrell Hammond impersonating him frequently.
Matthews had a definite love for the scrum, mixing it up with journalists and politicians, even as the recent news cycle swirling around President Donald Trump, stoked to new speeds by social media, has forced cable news into faster, more aggressive programming. “People are getting home. They are hearing about it. They want the full story,” the host told Variety in 2017. The feeling, he says, “is a great rush.”
Chris Matthews’ growing series of on-air gaffes in the midst of intensifying coverage of the 2020 campaign made keeping him on the air difficult for MSNBC executives, as did a litany of troubling stories about his behavior toward female guests on set and behind the scenes. Yet the show itself, based on a concept that worked in the late 1990s, was also becoming outdated.
More from Variety
Chris Matthews Departs MSNBC's 'Hardball' Amid Controversy
Matthews had a long tenure as a top political insider, working as a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and chief of staff for the very influential Tip O’Neill when he was the Speaker of the House. But he gained early momentum in TV as an occasional panelist on :”The McLaughlin Group,” whose host, John McLaughlin, helped blaze a trail for programming led by a moderator who wasn’t afraid to butt in; who made nicknames for his panelists part of the show; and who viewed political discussion as a sort of combat theater for Beltway aficionados.
Chris Matthews carried on many of those traditions. On “Hardball,” his pugnacious enthusiasm for politics often got the better of him, prompting him to interrupt his guests, or at the very least, talk over them as they tried to respond to his questions and provocations. This wasn’t some persona he played on air. Matthews had a palpable love for talking about the political game, and often could not stop himself from chatting endlessly about it. Some interviews with him could turn into monologues.
And while “The McLaughlin Group” recently returned without its titular host, who passed away in 2016, “Hardball” continued in much the same way it had over the years since Matthews got his own show on the now-defunct “America’s Talking,” the cable network that was eventually transformed into MSNBC.
That isn’t the format MSNBC has been most enthusiastic about in recent years. Behind the scenes, executives at the network and in the upper echelons at NBCUniversal have kept an eye on both Brian Williams’ “The 11th Hour” and Nicolle Wallace’s “Deadline: The White House.” Both shows keep the “salon” concept of a host juggling multiple guests burnished by “McLaughlin” and “Hardball,”, but with a significant twist: Wallace and Williams make their contributors the stars of the segments, praising their credentials and their proximity to the swirl around whatever topic might be under discussion.
Williams gives considerable time to telling viewers about his guests’ backgrounds, the details of which are printed upon cards he carries with him to his anchor desk. Wallace takes so much pride in her bookings that she spends precious time after her broadcasts tweeting out clips from her program and thanking the guest at the center of each one.
There may be other reasons to put “Hardball” in the shed. In 2019, the show ranked third in the key audience demographic favored by advertisers, people between 25 and 54. According to Nielsen, “Hardball’s” tally in the category fell below that of time-slot rivals “The Story with Martha MacCallum” on Fox News Channel and “Erin Burnett Outfront” on CNN.
Guessing who might eventually take over the “Hardball” slot is easy. Anyone who likes can take a look at the MSNBC daytime schedule and throw their favorite anchor into the mix.
But there is some reason to consider Wallace, whose 4 p.m. ratings in the demo were tied with those of time-slot competitor Jake Tapper in 2019, but who had a bigger overall audience than either CNN’s Tapper or her other rival, Fox News Channel’s Neil Cavuto (Cavuto had better numbers in the 25-to-54 audience). MSNBC executives have mulled the idea of expanding her “White House” to two hours, and a rejiggering of the schedule could use Matthews’ hour to do that (providing Wallace wants to work a later schedule).
There has been some press speculation about MSNBC weekend host Joy Reid taking the role, and that is certainly possible, as Reid has filled in for many of the network’s primetime hosts. But Reid’s “A.M. Joy” is one of MSNBC’s best-performing shows on weekends, where the network is placing more emphasis on programming in an effort to beat CNN in the demo.
MSNBC has also been in early talks with former Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith about a potential role, and Matthews’ departure would seem to provide an opening the two might find worth discussing. Smith’s non-compete with Fox News is expected to come to an end in June or July. MSNBC is at present expected to fill the 7 p.m. hour with various anchors.
No matter who ends up with the slot, it’s a fair bet the “Hardball” format won’t continue with them. Like “Crossfire,” the long-running CNN staple that pit blue versus red for more than two decades, the show had its moment in the sun. If an anchor should emerge who can take an aggressive stance like Matthews and bring the audience along once again, well, perhaps MSNBC will take another swing.
Chris Matthews Departs MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’ Amid Controversy
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor VARIETY
CREDIT: LARRY MARANO/SHUTTERSTOCK
Chris Matthews is abruptly stepping down from MSNBC’s “Hardball” amid scrutiny of recent on-air remarks as well as speculation about behind-the-scenes behavior.
The veteran anchor and political operative said on his program Monday night that he was leaving the cable-news outlet, putting an end to a long-running show that was featured on three different networks and part of the news landscape since 1994. Monday’s broadcast is Matthews’ last, and a rotating group of anchors is expected to lead the hour until MSNBC executives come up with more definitive plans.
”Let me start with my headline tonight: I’m retiring,” said Matthews, opening his first and final segment on the program. He added: “After conversations with MSNBC, I’ve decided tonight will be my last ‘Hardball.’ Let me tell you why: The younger generations out there are ready to take the reins.” He suggested younger people were bringing “better standards than we grew up with – fair standards” to the workplace, and acknowledged he had in the past addressed women in an outdated manner. “For making such comments in the past, I’m sorry,” he said.
In less than two minutes, he signed off and handed over the hour to MSNBC anchor Steve Kornacki, who seemed taken aback by the assignment.
Matthews had been under close watch by critics, apologizing last week after making an awkward comparison on air between Senator Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucuses and the Nazis’ World War II takeover of France. The remark prompted public outrage from Sanders aides, and fanned complaints about MSNBC’s coverage of his campaign. “I’m sorry for comparing anything from that tragic era in which so many suffered, especially the Jewish people, to an electoral result of which you were the well-deserved winner,” Matthews said in an on-air mea culpa to the politician.
Adding to the recent spotlight: a female journalist last week wrote an account in GQ alleging Matthews made inappropriate remarks to her while she was getting ready to appear on this show. That resurfaced reports that Matthews had been reprimanded in 1999 after a similar incident that resulted in a settlement to an employee, as well as claims that Matthews treated female politicians less respectfully.
Some of the recent attention sped up discussions that had been taking place between the anchor and MSNBC about when he would retire, according to a person familiar with the matter, resulting in a sooner-than-expected departure. Matthews is not expected to host any sort of special program looking back at his years on the air.
“Hardball” occupies valuable real estate. At 7 p.m., it funnels viewers into MSNBC’s primetime lineup, where advertising costs more and the cable-news networks fight with one another for the medium’s biggest audiences. MSNBC has in recent months contemplated a shift of some of its late-afternoon programs, and the absence of “Hardball” on its schedule could help those plans gain traction. One option executives have considered is expanding Nicolle Wallace’s program “Deadline: White House” to two hours from one. Her show currently airs at 4 p.m. , followed by Chuck Todd’s “MTP Daily” and “The Beat with Ari Melber.” MSNBC has also been in recent discussions with former Fox News Channel anchor Shepard Smith, who is believed to want to return to the news business with a show that would rely heavily on no-nonsense reporting.
He built a cable-news franchise in an era when there were fewer of them, and maintained it for more than two decades. “Hardball” relied on Matthews’ long years spent in Washington, where he worked his way up from being a staffer for various Democratic candidates to a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter and chief of staff to Tip O’Neill, the durable Speaker of the House for a decade. The show relied on its host’s penchant for being pugnacious, though not enough on most nights to distract from discussions of the political cycle. “Let’s play Hardball,” Matthews would say each night to open the proceedings.
“Hardball” got its start on the cable network once known as “America’s Talking” in 1994.” It was based on the host’s first book, “Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who Knows the Game,” which was released in 1988. “Hardball” would move to CNBC in 1997, and then to MSNBC in 1999, where it has stayed for more than 20 years. For a time, Matthews was parodied regular on “Saturday Night Live,” with cast member Darrell Hammond impersonating him frequently.
Matthews had a definite love for the scrum, mixing it up with journalists and politicians, even as the recent news cycle swirling around President Donald Trump, stoked to new speeds by social media, has forced cable news into faster, more aggressive programming. “People are getting home. They are hearing about it. They want the full story,” the host told Variety in 2017. The feeling, he says, “is a great rush.”
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