Hardball With Chris Matthews - General Discussion

[Kathcart]

Saw a segment on Monday night's show called "Let Me Finish." Yep, that's "Let Me Finish," by Chris Matthews.

hahahahahahahahahaha!! That is the most hilarious title EVER! I am assuming Chris Matthews did not get the joke.

[Ohwell]

On 8/21/2018 at 9:08 PM, car54 said:

I felt like tonight was Omarosa's MSNBC commenter audition.   Her video reveal was worthless.

I read somewhere that CNN will not book her at all so it's MSNBC or nothin.   

Omarosa is too rude, condescending, and prickly to be a commenter.  If she does want a gig, she's going to have to be more friendly, which I don't think she can do.

[grommit2]

15 minutes of fame, then off to the dustbin of history.  

[Kemper]

I watched tonight (until 7:30...Jeopardy) and I will have to give Chris this...he is always fired up and passionate.  Unfortunately, he had on two excellent guests...Jennifer Rubin and a young man who I don't remember seeing before.  Chris talked most of the time; he DID let Jennifer Rubin get some words in but the poor other guy...had to jump in just to get a few scraps.  Which gave me this brilliant idea...give Chris the Saturday morning timeslot!  He would be fabulous...all that enthusiasm, honking laughter, spit flying, probably arm waving...what a great wake-up call.  I would actually look forward to watching that.  It would have the added benefit of getting rid of Alex Witt.

I just get so frustrated with his nightly show that I usually switch to CNN or Jeopardy.  Today was one of the biggest news days of the year.  Since yesterday and until tomorrow.  Chris could have had an excellent, sharp and informative show.  But he just loves pontificating so much that he can't help himself.  Bless his heart.

[Kemper]

Am I the only one on this board? 

Mr. Kemper and I just watched Chris interview a Congresswoman from California. This was, I think, the person the Kavanaugh accuser went to first with her allegations.  Sorry, but the interview was unintentionally funny.  The Congresswoman spoke in a monotone...Chris looked bored...he barked some sort of question that was ridiculous.  It seemed to take forever.  We were both astounded, entertained and horrified. 

It was one of the worst interviews I have ever seen on tv.  Kind of in the "so bad it was good" type of thing, I guess. 

Edited September 17, 2018 by Kemper
added last sentence

[HyeChaps]

The last few weeks I have noticed that: 1) Chris is coughing a lot and 2) Chris is mixing up his words  

Anyone else?

[Ohwell]

1 hour ago, HyeChaps said:

The last few weeks I have noticed that: 1) Chris is coughing a lot and 2) Chris is mixing up his words  

Anyone else?

I've noticed that.  However, I've been coughing a lot and so have other newscasters.  I think it's the change in weather.   As for mixing up his words, I just think it's because he's not feeling 100%.

[stormy]

Just watched the second Beto O'Rourke town hall in a week and I don't live in Texas.

Last week on CNN with Dana Bash as moderator. Chris can mop the floor with her. He knows how to keep things moving, keep it light and serious without being priggish.

[roughing it]

I listened to the town hall on Sirius XM because I was driving.  Chris didn't interrupt him!  I wish I could vote for Beto.

Edited October 31, 2018 by roughing it

[stormy]

OMG Chris. Never let Cher call in again. I like Cher but she was so disoriented that the interview was uncomfortable to listen to.

[suomi]

17 minutes ago, stormy said:

OMG Chris. Never let Cher call in again. I like Cher but she was so disoriented that the interview was uncomfortable to listen to.

I didn't see it. Dang, because I've always liked her. Disoriented as in uninformed, or possibly demented? (Given her age). What was your impression? TIA

[stormy]

2 hours ago, suomi said:

I didn't see it. Dang, because I've always liked her. Disoriented as in uninformed, or possibly demented? (Given her age). What was your impression? TIA

Disoriented as in not being able to put together a coherent thought or sentence. I'm going to blame it on frustration like me who keeps wondering how did we get here? What did we do to deserve this?

Montel Williams was on live right afterwards. He said he's never voted Democratic till this election. It's all about health care. He has health issues and his daughter recently suffered two kinds of cancer. He told Chris that whatever the Republicans have told you about healthcare, they're lying.

[izabella]

4 hours ago, stormy said:

Montel Williams was on live right afterwards. He said he's never voted Democratic till this election. It's all about health care. He has health issues and his daughter recently suffered two kinds of cancer. He told Chris that whatever the Republicans have told you about healthcare, they're lying.

Well, the Republicans spent a lot of time in 2016, and for years beforehand, talking about repealing the ACA, so he's way late to the party if he's just now voting Democratic for the first time.  Better late than never, I guess, once your or your own kid gets sick and then has a pre-existing condition. forever.  Sorry, I'm cynical, and I'm tired of people who don't give a shit about other people, but when it's one of their own that gets sick, or comes out, or is denied the right to vote, suddenly, they change their tune.

Edited November 6, 2018 by izabella

[annzeepark914]

On 10/25/2018 at 9:22 AM, HyeChaps said:

The last few weeks I have noticed that: 1) Chris is coughing a lot and 2) Chris is mixing up his words  

Anyone else?

This post is from October. Chris is worse now. Every show, he uses a wrong word. One night, about two weeks ago, he had Jonathan Swan & Eugene Robinson as guests. At the end of the show, he started saying thanks & goodnight to them by calling Swan, "Eugene". Poor Jonathan was shocked & tried to make a joke of it (just to cover for CM). Another show, a few days later, he started talking about Pelosi by calling her Nancy Reagan. It's getting hard to watch Hardball.

[ari333]

On 2/11/2019 at 12:26 AM, annzeepark914 said:

This post is from October. Chris is worse now. Every show, he uses a wrong word. One night, about two weeks ago, he had Jonathan Swan & Eugene Robinson as guests. At the end of the show, he started saying thanks & goodnight to them by calling Swan, "Eugene". Poor Jonathan was shocked & tried to make a joke of it (just to cover for CM). Another show, a few days later, he started talking about Pelosi by calling her Nancy Reagan. It's getting hard to watch Hardball.

Oh no. Could it be a brain fart or something? It sounds bad. We all make mistakes. I hope he is OK

[Ladyrain]

Any idea where Chris has been this week?  I haven't caught any mention of a vacation or special assignment.  

I too have been noticing more and more verbal slip-ups.  And he's even crankier than usual. 

[annzeepark914]

14 hours ago, Ladyrain said:

Any idea where Chris has been this week?  I haven't caught any mention of a vacation or special assignment.  

I too have been noticing more and more verbal slip-ups.  And he's even crankier than usual. 

I turned the show on last night, noticed he wasn't there, & wondered if he was getting checked out. You just know MSNBC has to have noticed.

[annzeepark914]

Monday, Feb 25th...no Chris. Curious.

[Ladyrain]

Yes.  This is getting curiouser and curiouser.  I think something is up.   I wonder if he's ill (I think he's diabetic).   Or I wonder if contract negotiations are going badly.   Or perhaps something he said or did has upset TPTB.   But the radio silence is deafening.

[Kitty Redstone]

I don't know how accurate this source is, but it says that Brian Williams could possibly replace Chris Matthews on Hardball due to ratings.  11th Hour is doing great while Hardball has been last in its time slot.

[annzeepark914]

9 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

I don't know how accurate this source is, but it says that Brian Williams could possibly replace Chris Matthews on Hardball due to ratings.  11th Hour is doing great while Hardball has been last in its time slot.

Well, that's it for me.  I have no use for ol' sad sack Williams. IMO, he should've been fired for telling lies, something a journalist/TV newsperson should never get away with.  Don't they have any fresh face who could take over Hardball?

[The Solution]

13 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

I don't know how accurate this source is, but it says that Brian Williams could possibly replace Chris Matthews on Hardball due to ratings.  11th Hour is doing great while Hardball has been last in its time slot.

I would much rather see Steve Kornacki continue with it.

[Kitty Redstone]

3 hours ago, The Solution said:

I would much rather see Steve Kornacki continue with it.

I'd rather they have Steve Kornacki stick with it as well.  He's had his own show before and could change the format if necessary.  Chris crams too many guests in a short amount of time.

[annzeepark914]

The Spitter returns on Monday (per Steve K who, of course, did not refer to Chris as the spitter) 😏

[grommit2]

Hi fans...here's an idea:
Launch a completely new approach to the news.
And what is that approach?
Just report validated facts...NOT opinion.
Geez...I bet that show would draw an audience...

[Ladyrain]

17 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

The Spitter returns on Monday (per Steve K who, of course, did not refer to Chris as the spitter) 😏

I wonder if Chris will make any mention of where he's been for the past two weeks.   If he doesn't say anything (vacation; family issues; health reasons) I'm going to assume some kind of dispute with the network over ratings or viewers complaints.  --  At this point I would not be sorry at all to see him go, but I don't know who I'd like to see in that time slot.  Stephanie Ruhle maybe?   She can play hardball a lot better than CM has been doing as of late.

[HyeChaps]

I have it on very good authority that Chris was on a trip to New Zealand. 

[sum]

Really strange why they couldn't just inform the viewers that he was on vacation. 

[Kitty Redstone]

5 hours ago, Ladyrain said:

I wonder if Chris will make any mention of where he's been for the past two weeks.   If he doesn't say anything (vacation; family issues; health reasons) I'm going to assume some kind of dispute with the network over ratings or viewers complaints.  --  At this point I would not be sorry at all to see him go, but I don't know who I'd like to see in that time slot.  Stephanie Ruhle maybe?   She can play hardball a lot better than CM has been doing as of late.

She's as bad as he is at interrupting people, though.

CM's been around forever - he surely gets many weeks of vacation time every year?

ETA:  I should've scrolled down before posting!  I'm glad to see Chris was just on vacation and not out due to health issues.

Edited March 3, 2019 by Kitty Redstone

[Ladyrain]

3 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

She's as bad as he is at interrupting people, though.

I agree, but she's one who could really be true to the show's name of Hardball.

It's good to know that Chris wasn't out because of illness, but it was odd that it was never mentioned why he was out.  Maybe that was intentional to gin up some buzz about him.  He sure missed some good breaking news in the past two weeks.

[Kitty Redstone]

That's true, Ladyrain.  I've seen her hold people's feet to the fire before, particularly one rep from New York whose name I can't remember. 

If Chris retires or is forced out, I wonder if they'll just retire the Hardball name as well and replace it with a whole new show.  Maybe it depends on what a new host would want/what producers think would fit her/his personality?

[Ladyrain]

5 hours ago, Kitty Redstone said:

If Chris retires or is forced out, I wonder if they'll just retire the Hardball name as well and replace it with a whole new show.

You're  probably right.   'Hardball' is too associated with Chris Matthews at this point.   ---  It's funny; I like Steve Kornacki a lot, but I never associated that term with him, so it was amusing to see him host under the banner "Hardball" for two weeks.

[HyeChaps]

Chris has written a book entitled “Hardball”. Anyone else in that time slot would have to have a different title. 

[annzeepark914]

1 hour ago, HyeChaps said:

Chris has written a book entitled “Hardball”. Anyone else in that time slot would have to have a different title. 

Maybe he came up with the name and using the same name for his book title was a way to "own" the name of the show. Oh well...if he resigns, retires, whatever, they'd need to create a new format for the show anyway, along w/ a new title.  The one thing about Hardball that I've enjoyed is the Tell Me Something I Don't Know segment (altho' since it's at the end of the show, they're rushed and I don't like that--I want the guests to have the time to do a bit of explaining re: what they' just revealed).

[Ladyrain]

He's b-a-a-a-c-k.   I hope it's just bad lighting, but Chris looks awful.  He bugs me something wicked, so why am I so glad to see him again?  

[annzeepark914]

2 hours ago, Ladyrain said:

He's b-a-a-a-c-k.   I hope it's just bad lighting, but Chris looks awful.  

He didn't look so hot in that vacation photo either (compared with his wife who looks healthy).

[grommit2]

My 2 cents:  
There appear to be two different interview techniques:
1) The interviewer asks the guest a question, listens to the answer, then asks a followup...thus we get the insights and expertise of the guest.  And the interviewer asks questions that we may or may not have considered.  Very useful. Very, ummm...adult.  I posit that interviewers such as Velshi & Ruhle, Maddow, and a few others use this technique often. Makes it quite tolerable to accept their viewpoint. 
2) Then there the interviewers who pose the initial question (usually along with a lengthy setup).  They let the guest start to answer then (rudely) interrupt and inject their own opinions.  Unfortunately, this just generates aggravation. Tucker Carlson is famous for doing this kind of "interviewus interruptus". Chris Matthews practices this often.  Very annoying.  Very...childish. 

[annzeepark914]

Okayyyy...I tuned in to Hardball tonight, around 7:30, and lasted maybe 5 minutes.  He had an awkward way of signaling to Bob Shrub (sp?) that this was his last question to him.  Bob looked puzzled, & then laughed a little.  I can't remember what CM said or how he phrased it, something like "this is the end of the night, Bob" or something like that, before asking one final question.  Very weird.

[car54]

Oh my goodness....did Michael Eric Dyson cut his long hair???? 

[izabella]

Chris is on fire tonight, and firing on all cylinders.  Glad to see he is back on his game.  He has been asking a lot of really good questions tonight.

[annzeepark914]

Geez. Last night Chris was introducing his first guest & practically sneezed in the guest's face... not once but twice. It's always something with CM.

[car54]

Hardball has been fun tonight.    Chris is soooooo excited that the Mueller letter to Barr broke on his show.   "This is BIG!  This is really BIG!"

[annzeepark914]

Well, it's been a while since I watched Hardball and tonight was typical CM of late. He had Michael Beschloss & Dana Milbank on to discuss Trump's plans to take over the Capitol Fourth celebration on the mall. The two guests could hardly get a word in, with Chris loudly talking over them when they managed to speak. And then, CM was talking about "how hot it is in DC in July & March...oh wait...in... August".  Next, he referred to the Secretary of Commerce as "Wilbur.........." and Dana jumped in and said, "Ross". MSNBC needs a new host--one who will let his interesting guests talk, and who can remember the names of people he's either talking to or about.

[stormy]

I'm very interested in the show tomorrow night. The town hall in Northeastern PA with two time Obama voters that voted for trump.

Although I'm always pissed off over everything they say,  I still want to hear their rational.

Edited May 15, 2019 by stormy

[stormy]

Last night Chris had a brief discussion with NBC's Cal Perry. He's been in PA talking to the Obama turned trump voters leading up to Chris's town hall.

Seems everyone he talked to doesn't care about anything trump says or does because all they care about is their 401K's.

Which is interesting because if you're a minimum wage earner (in PA $7.75) how many of those workers have those benefits?

Also, seems there were Union workers. How many Republicans support Unions?

At the end of their discussion, Chris basically said that everyone in PA in the know (particularly Ed Rendell) kept warning the Democrats and no one would listen.

Edited May 16, 2019 by stormy

[Kathcart]

On 5/13/2019 at 8:28 PM, annzeepark914 said:

Well, it's been a while since I watched Hardball and tonight was typical CM of late. He had Michael Beschloss & Dana Milbank on to discuss Trump's plans to take over the Capitol Fourth celebration on the mall. The two guests could hardly get a word in, with Chris loudly talking over them when they managed to speak. And then, CM was talking about "how hot it is in DC in July & March...oh wait...in... August".  Next, he referred to the Secretary of Commerce as "Wilbur.........." and Dana jumped in and said, "Ross". MSNBC needs a new host--one who will let his interesting guests talk, and who can remember the names of people he's either talking to or about.

I could not agree more. I came here just to comment about that segment the other night with Beschloss and Milbank. That was rough. Dana Milbank really tried to keep on talking despite the constant interruptions. The paycheck must be worth it for the guests to come on and end up saying nothing more than "The president is--" and "The Fourth of July--" before getting cut off. It's ridiculous. Chris Matthews needs to hang it up and retire already.

Hey, maybe they could bring back Greta Van Susteren for the Hardball timeslot. That way they could re-use all those expensive promos they made for her short-lived show. Of course I wouldn't watch her but that would still give me my 7 p.m. hour back like I have it now because I almost never watch Hardball because there's no point.

[annzeepark914]

2 hours ago, Kathcart said:

Hey, maybe they could bring back Greta Van Susteren for the Hardball timeslot. That way they could re-use all those expensive promos they made for her short-lived show. Of course I wouldn't watch her but that would still give me my 7 p.m. hour back like I have it now because I almost never watch Hardball because there's no point.

There must be somebody who could take over this show ASAP.  I wonder if his ratings have dropped. I was planning to contact MSNBC about this but never got around to it. Will do so now (I know...like they care what I think but I bet a lot of people must be contacting them about Chris Matthews inability to remember names, even of his guests!) Things are heating up and I don't think CM will be able to adequately handle the intense discussions (especially if he won't let his guests talk) that will be taking place up through the elections of 2020.

[car54]

Y'all, this town hall thing he's doing is SO entertaining.    Some good shouting on all sides.

They need to let Chris do this every week---it was really good.   Instead of the carefully hand-picked people and questioners it was kind of a free-for-all but was way better than his shows in the studio.

Edited May 17, 2019 by car54

[stormy]

Excellent job on The Deciders Chris's town hall in PA

[Kemper]

I am in the minority in that I hate the town halls with people who voted for Obama and then Trump.  Or people who voted Trump last time and had almost always voted democratic.  I don't care.  About them or their whining/regrets/smugness/winning.  I have to wonder if the network gave Chris a town hall because other shows have had them.  But. Mr. Kemper watched and loved it.  I'll take 19th century novels for $3,000, Alex.