Chris Matthews, and You, the viewer

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

So Chris Matthews, the undisputed king of MSNBC, supposedly averages between 400,000 and 500,000 viewers on a healthy night. 10,000 of those people are high, and giggling about how large his head is, 2,000 of those are Pat Buchanan's extended family, and probably another even 50,000 stroked out watching Tucker!, and were too busy writhing on the floor to change the channel.

So let's go with 450,000 viewers per night.

The point I'm trying to make, is that he's completely irrelevent. It doesn't matter what he said on his show tonight, because nobody was watching, except possibly for people so completely dialed in that they were debunking his show minute for minute on their blog, stopping only to slip into the basement and inject themself with whatever unholy toxin has kept them tuned to MSNBC for six days in a row. Well, them and Media Matters, but they get paid to do it.

So when your dander is up because Norah O'Donnell, fresh from her crypt, says something disparaging or untruthful about (insert thing here), nobody is watching. The segment could be, "Deepthroating Tony Snow", one big daisy chain of conservative punditry stopping only occasionaly to note that anyone who disagrees with Sam Brownback is personaly in thrall to Osama bin Ladin, and it wouldn't matter.

Sometimes, like after the debates when the news shows that people watch hoist Matthews up to the bigboy table, he matters. Other than that, he's swimming in a little bowl of his own filth, irrelevent to anybody but himself and his guests.

[napi21]

1. BS. I watch Chris every night. Many times I yell at the TV, but many times I don't.

You're free to have your opinion of Matthews, and so am I!

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

2. I'm sorry

You realize they have Curb Your Enthusiasm on DVD, right?

[la la]

3. BS about what?

His viewership, his opinions, his big head, his spitting when he talks, yadda, yadda ?

What?

I wanna know.

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

4. True

His head is gargantuan. I've been sober as a judge for six months, and I still think its funny.

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

5. Also

What the cock is this, "Can't recommend own post for greatest page"? I want a complete and relevent debate about the irrelevency of Chris Matthews.

[LostInAnomie]

6. I disagree.

Whether DU likes is or not Hardball is the nightly political show of record. Much of what goes on during his show greatly shapes the "conventional wisdom " of politics and influences how other media presents political news and how the public thinks.

Even though his ratings may not reflect it, Matthews has a great influence over public perception and opinion.

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

7. I don't see it

Even in a broader scope beyond just ratings, I still think that they're a totally self contained bubble of wankery. Maybe I'm wrong, and Pat Buchanan's rants are seen as the unofficial 'way the wind is blowing' in newsrooms, but having been in a few in my relatively short life, I couldn't tell.

[LostInAnomie]

10. You're forgetting that pundits and politicians are self absorbed narcissists...

... that thrive in that "self contained bubble of wankery." When they aren't bathing in the cesspool, they emerge to influence public opinion. Hardball is the place of record where these narcissists meet and spew.

[illinoisprogressive]

8. I watch Hardball. Sometimes it makes me mad enough to yell and

sometimes it is interesting. depends. I feel he is very bipolar in his programs. sometimes he has interesting people and credible debates and sometimes he is stupid.

[MrRobotsHolyOrders]

9. Damnit, follow up

If you replaced "Matthews" with "O'Reilly", and add "conservative" before "public" I think there's a lot of truth to that.

Bill O'Reilly, cheap, scumfucking asshole of the universe that he is, can raise an agenda that will reverberate with his corner of America. Force the issue, even.

I think Matthews is a product of the media environment rather than a force on it, and thus speaks to nobody but die hards.

[jarab]

11. It's a good show. AIways try to watch.

If any show isn't far-left it's slammed at DU. I'm used to it, but I don't want our equivalent of Fox.
jmo on Matthews.

...O...

[napi21]

13. Ahh, a little sanity here for a change. Thanks.

I've seen that too! The only shows that get great ratings hereare when someone really slams the admin. or the Pubs or both!

I watch a lot of shows and I don't always agree with what the guests or the moderator says, but I like hearing different opinions.

God help me the day Ialways agree with ANYONE all the time! I will finally accept that I must have gottensome mental disease and better just shut my mouth for good!

[Blue_In_AK]

17. I watch, too.

He has interesting guests on sometimes, and once in a while he even sounds reasonable.

[hatrack]

12. Thank you, Mr. Robot - all the essentials in five short paragraphs

:hi:

[ShortnFiery]

14. I concur ...

Tweety has long been part of the D.C. Journalist elite. He thrives at SPIN and keeping everyone off-balance. Sometimes he changes positions 180 degrees within the same show.

He's a waste of human intelligence. Even that old sot, Christopher Hitchens, at least carries through his arguments to logical conclusions. Tweety spins the facts like a Texas Twister.

You're right that we should put him in perspective. Tweety's been part of the political elite, inside the beltway crowd for so long that he doesn't give a damn about his viewers. His only goal is to worship himself and other elites so that he and the Mrs. will be invited to ALL the right parties. :P

[Auntie Bush]

15. We watch Chris every night.

He and KO are our favorites. Lots of times I yell, "Shut the hell up, Chris!" but I enjoy watching him and feel more or less satisfied.

I think you are much too hard on him. KO is the only one any better.

[calimary]

16. Um... Chris Matthews is not the king of MSNBC. Somebody else rates higher.

Consistently higher.

The Scoreboard: Wednesday, January 10
25-54 demographic: (LS)

Total day: FNC: 336 | CNN: 251 | MSNBC: 159 | HLN: 92 | CNBC: 105

Prime: FNC: 774 | CNN: 575 | MSNBC: 419 | HLN: 193 | CNBC: 151
5p: 6p: 7p: 8p: 9p: 10p: 11p:

FNC Gibson: Hume: Shep: O'Reilly: Bush: H&C: Greta:
215 289 401 563 * 738 510

CNN Blitzer: Dobbs: SitRoom: SitRoom: Bush: Cooper: Cooper:
194 270 323 320 * 542 389

MSNBC Matthews: Tucker: Matthews: Countdo.: Bush: Scarbo.: Scarbo.:
167 140 221 300 * 409 235

HLN HLN: Prime: Beck: Grace: Beck: Grace: Showbiz:
43/62 76 146 233 158 186 181


Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.


Total viewers: (LS)

Total day: FNC: 1,111 | CNN: 662 | MSNBC: 393 | HLN: 215 | CNBC: 235

Prime: FNC: 3,085 | CNN: 1,699 | MSNBC: 1,097 | HLN: 483 | CNBC: 300
5p: 6p: 7p: 8p: 9p: 10p: 11p:

FNC Gibson: Hume: Shep: O'Reilly: Bush: H&C: Greta:
1,136 1,352 1,522 2,904 * 2,316 1,316

CNN Blitzer: Dobbs: SitRoom: SitRoom: Bush: Cooper: Cooper:
540 978 889 1,018 * 1,571 962

MSNBC Matthews: Tucker: Matthews: Countdo.: Bush: Scarbo.: Scarbo.:
446 320 472 774 * 1,028 505

HLN HLN: Prime: Beck: Grace: Beck: Grace: Showbiz:
82/109 197 266 752 339 357 274

Posted by brian | 10:36 PM | Ratings

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/the_scoreboard_wednesday_january_10_51021.asp#more

This particular day's ratings covered Wednesday, when bush gave his speech. This is the first and only time I've seen Scarborough top the ratings for MSNBC evenings. It's because he followed the bush speech and there was still substantial viewership. On any ordinary week, Keith Olbermann leaves everybody else on that channel in his dust. Watch the trends, day after day, week after week. He consistently scores the best ratings of the night. The VAST majority of the time, Scarborough cannot hold the numbers from his lead-in. The night of the bush speech is, I believe, an anomaly. I have not seen numbers that indicate Matthews outrates "Countdown." And Joe NEVER ordinarily sustains the viewership Keith builds up after "Hardball" hands it off to him.

If you think Chris Matthews is the undisputed king, why is Keith now coanchoring the big events with him? THAT is indicative that MSNBC manager Dan Abrams sees Olbermann as THE main asset, and wants to get Olbermann on camera as MUCH as possible. If that weren't the case, you'd see Matthews as the sole, lead anchor on these things. They did NOT have Matthews coanchoring with Scarborough, BTW. Olbermann is the 800-pound gorilla in that particular room.