IMO, Hardball with Chris Matthews is victim of ageism. Too old to bring in the 25-40

[CK_John]

viewer. If your over 50 keep your resume up to date.

[trumad]

1. Uhhh---Isn't Ed Shultz older?

Boom---there goes that premise.

[jberryhill]

4. No

Edward "Ed" Andrew Schultz (born January 27, 1954)

Christopher John "Chris" Matthews (born December 17, 1945)

[Scuba]

5. He just looks older.

You still win.

[X_Digger]

2. How about.. too rude and rambling for two slots? n/t

[SoCalDem]

20. He only did ONE show.. it was rerun later

If something major was happening, he would sometimes do a new show, but 99% of the time it;s just a re-run... total waste of airtime.

[X_Digger]

21. Agreed. n/t

[The empressof all]

3. I'm over 50....

And I think Matthews is a brainless poopy head.... He was probably an even bigger idiot when he was younger. I don't think his age had anything to do with him losing an hour to another older man...

[bravenak]

6. He shouldn't have repeats.

That's all it is. I'm 32 and I'd like him to take over meet the press. We need somebody good at interrupting to interview the conservatives.

[Matariki]

23. +1

lol

[Enrique]

7. i think it's anti-blonde bias

notice how few blondes there are on MSNBC?

[Boomerproud]

12. and he doesn't wear eyeglasses either...

As Jon Stewart pointed out "MSNBC is the home of the nearsighted."

[jberryhill]

8. I turn 50 this week....

....and Chris Matthews is an incredibly irritating person.

I used to watch him fairly regularly, but his constant talking over his guests and carrying on to the point of not letting them answer questions finally got to be too much.

He is being replaced by a wet-behind-the-ears 59 year old.

Given that Ed Shultz is 59, wtf does "if your over 50" have to do with anything?

[Samantha]

30. NBC itself has made this an issue when it declared its sponsors wanted to appeal to a certain age

group. I can't remember exactly the parameters, but it was something like 24 to 49 (under 50 in other words). You can just take a look at some of the people they have demoted, moved, whatever, and see that they have made specific changes to reflect this. But it was printed in several articles when they moved Ed to the weekends that they wanted someone who could appeal to that younger audience. Chris Hayes is 32. (Before I get flamed here, I would like to go on record as saying I really like Chris Hayes, but I simply thought his weekend shows were exceptionally well placed. I also thought Ed was exceptionally well placed in his time slot).

In any event, I posted here more than once I thought MSNBC would get a rude awakening by sliding shows into slots that appealed to its sponsors demands, as opposed to the desires of its viewing audience.

I grew up in a generation where age simply did not matter. I personally think it adds to a person's well-roundedness to surround himself or herself with people from infants to those who have advanced into the other end of the spectrum. I for instance have learned a lot from my granddaughter and she me. She is now 4. However, I have always enjoyed listening to older people talk about life and politics in days gone by because there is always something new to be learned.

However, there has been a concerted effort by some underhanded political sources to turn one generation against another, and to a certain extent I believe they have succeeded. I hear (and even read on DU) people commenting on well-known personalities on their age alone. Someone asked just a couple of days ago could we not find someone under 65 to run for President. You know what? Al Gore turned 65 this year, and I would vote for him in a heartbeat if he were to run. His age is a non-factor. Hillary's age is a non-factor. Everyone's age is a non-factor to me! But apparently, that is not the case at NBC.

Ageism is discrimination and should be publicly condemned.

http://psychology.about.com/od/aindex/g/ageism.htm

Sam

[branford]

34. Sponsors pay the bills.

[Samantha]

38. Until the viewership drops and there is not enough of an audience

to view the ads for their products.

Sam

[Dreamer Tatum]

9. Yeah, you're an ageist if you don't watch him. And a racist if you don't watch Al.

And a homophobe if you don't watch anyone who happens to be gay. Anti-semite if you fail to hang on
the words of a Jewish TV host. I don't much care for Foghorn Leghorn, so I'm a fowl-ist.

[yawnmaster]

27. I think you are wrong...

if you don't care for Foghorn you are an ANTI-fowlist.
or maybe a misfowlist.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. TV news always allows older men to anchor the news but I never see older women

anchoring.

[bravenak]

18. Andrea Mitchell.

She has a show.

[Squinch]

11. They have a good host being wasted, and another host, who I like, twice every night.

Seems like logic to me.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. He's a victim of his motor-mouth and weather-vaning. nt

[BlueToTheBone]

14. I thought it was the spittle n/t

[Little Star]

15. I'm well over 50 and Tweety drives me nuts because....

he never lets anyone else finish a sentence.

[Warpy]

16. I doubt it. I watched Walter Cronkite when I was 18

and had a TV. He was certainly no spring chicken again. I watched him again at 24, when I got a TV again and continued to watch until he retired.

We all loved Uncle Walter.

Ageism isn't affecting Matthews. Matthews is. He's all over the place politically and very inconsistent in his interviews.

[VanillaRhapsody]

17. maybe it had nothing to do with Matthews at all

Perhaps it was the drop in ratings after Ed was sent to the weekends? The other personalities are great and they didn't want to replace them...the only thing left to do was revamp by using one of Matthews repeat broadcasts...

[Chipper Chat]

19. I must be out of the loop.

What happened to Chris's show?

[SoCalDem]

22. He took over Ed's timeslot. at 5pm (PST)

[Chipper Chat]

24. Now I'm more confused.

Is Ed gone on the weekends now?

[SoCalDem]

26. Yes.. they plan long-form documentaries..no news about Karen Finney's show

[burnodo]

25. So it's ageism to restrict the show to only one timeslot?

[RudynJack]

28. Schultz is 59

You think he's bringing in the Bieber-generation?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

29. So wrong. All you have to do is watch some of the younger newspeople to know...people

want and respect the experience and the deep knowledge of history. The gravitas.

It is not the younger people's fault....it is just a fact of life...you are more valuable when you
have seen much and actually thought about what you saw.

[Motown_Johnny]

31. He screws up constantly.

I have been watching Tweety .. well... it seems like forever. I used to record him with my VCR because I never wanted to miss a show. He just isn't that good anymore.

Today he couldn't come up with the word "chameleon" and he is the one who brought it up. It isn't like he had to use that example, he choose it and couldn't think of it.

A while ago, with the Wiener texting thing going on again, he had no idea what a "selfie" was and a guest had to explain it to him. I am 50 and have known what that term meant for years. Don't you think he would have heard it somewhere? Especially if he was following that story?

These are just the two examples that come to mind. He just isn't as sharp as he used to be. He should go. It has noting to do with his age, it has to do with his ability.

[CK_John]

32. You say he is showing his age, that is part of rhe process. Why isn't someone giving him info on one

of those earpieces?

[NuclearDem]

33. He's a victim of suckism.

You know, anti-suck bias.

[LondonReign2]

39. Ayup

Spot on

[musiclawyer]

35. This has nothing to do with

Ageism. He just sucks.
When the daily show started making fun of Matthews you you know it's bad.

[Egalitarian Thug]

36. If you're over 50, not rich enough to retire and still thinking in terms of your resume,

you're in for a very hard time.

[madinmaryland]

37. It's not the fucking age...

It's that goddamn tingle in his leg that he gets while he is on air.