MSNBC, whose bigwigs have made no secret of how much they love “Hardball” host Chris Matthews — who was a great newspaper columnist before he moved over totally to cable — is in it for the longhaul with Matthews. They just signed a new deal, but part of that will involve axing “The Chris Matthews Show,” a syndicated show, so Matthews can concentrate on “Hardball,” long form shows and books.
MSNBC has signed Chris Matthews to a new, long-term contract with the channel, TVNewser has learned.
As part of the new deal, however, he will be ending “The Chris Matthews Show,” a syndicated public affairs show produced out of the NBC News DC bureau. The final edition of the program will air July 21. The half-hour show typically aired on Sunday mornings, though not every local market carried it. The show has been produced by NBC since 2002.
Matthews says he is ending the syndicated show to focus on “Hardball,” his books and his long-form TV docs.
“There are limits to what I can do in a week,” Matthews says in a statement.
But no limits to what Matthews can say in one breath.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.