The seemingly unthinkable happened today, despite a chorus of calls going back years for this to happen. Chris Matthews is losing his twice a day airing of Hardball and will now only be seen at 7pm now. Ed Schultz is coming back M-Fr to the 5pm hour. Obvious question: Er…what happened to all that hubbub about Schultz wanting a curtailed schedule when the move was made to put him on weekends only?
The Hollywood Reporter’s Marisa Guthrie interviewed Phil Griffin about this long long overdue move…
“Ed has proven himself no matter where we’ve put him,” MSNBC president Phil Griffin told The Hollywood Reporter.
The latest schedule shift displaces the first airing of Hardball With Chris Matthews. Currently Matthews’ show airs at 5 p.m. with a repeat at 7 p.m.; beginning Aug. 26, Hardball will have one run at 7 p.m. (Hardball’s 7 p.m. show traditionally gets higher ratings than the 5 p.m. premiere). And Griffin expects those numbers to improve after the move. The move makes MSNBC’s primetime lineup all new for the first time since the network’s shift to a political focus. “We’ve grown a lot in the last decade,” said Griffin, adding that Schultz “laughed a little” when he called to ask him to move back to weeknights.
The move, added Griffin, “makes us whole in early prime. Obviously we had to make sure we had the right show. The Ed Show is the right show.”
I would disagree. From a flow standpoint, the right move would have been to put Schultz on at 7pm and have Matthews stay at 5pm. I think Schultz is a better fit with what preceeds and follows the 7pm timeslot.
Filed under: MSNBC
