Joe Scarborough: The Anti-Chris Matthews?
TV Guide’s Cheers & Jeers writes about Morning Joe…
Cheers to Morning Joe for becoming a must-have fix for political junkies. Ex-congressman Joe Scarborough seemed like a poor man’s Bill O’Reilly on his old prime-time MSNBC show, Scarborough Country. When the cable net moved him to the morning shift, it seemed like a desperate stopgap in the wake of Don Imus’ sudden ouster. Then a funny thing happened: Scarborough lightened up. He traded his suits and ties for fleece pullovers and surrounded himself with appealing sidekicks like Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. As the presidential campaign has raged on, they’ve talked about — and with — the candidates in a relaxed yet informative fashion. Scarborough’s become the anti-Chris Matthews: Think of Morning Joe as Softball. And his team’s hitting it out of the park.
Unfortunately it hasn’t translated into a boost in the ratings much, if at all. Morning Joe continues to perform well off Imus in the Morning’s levels from the same time the previous year, despite all the politics going on with the primaries and debates.
P 2+ (Live+SD)
Jan. 2007 – 356,000
Jan. 2008 – 269,000
Decline: -24%
P 25-54 (Live+SD)
Jan. 2007 – 141,000
Jan. 2008 – 95,000
Decline: -33%
Additionally, in January Morning Joe came in behind HLN’s Morning Express with Robin Meade which had 97,000 in the Demo.
Imus’s show was on MSNBC for a decade. MJ has been on for 6 months. Let’s give it a chance to catch up with the buzz?
Comment by anton — January 31, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
Morning Joe has become my morning show of choice. I never could stand that goofy, self centered, egotistic NY cowboy Imus.
Mika and Joe balance each other out politicly and I like to hear them bicker back and forth about anything that comes up. Joe is also a fair minded person that seems to see both sides of the issues.
Comment by MikeG — January 31, 2008 @ 1:30 pm
As much as Joe drives me nuts with some of his views, he’s spot on with others. Makes me crazy. And, I love him for it. I read his book years ago and still to this day quote it. “Rome Wasn’t Burnt In A Day” go get it. It’s pretty much right down the middle and gives an interesting view into DC. He may be the straightest shooter on TV, definetley the straightest on MSNBC.
Comment by Zakk — January 31, 2008 @ 1:39 pm
I’ve write many times on this site that I did NOT like MJ. I felt that he and Mika were both allied in their views, and the show just seemed too liberal. But now that they are going at it CONSTANTLY, it is quite entertaining. And Joe has complained several times of the way the media (including David Shuster) handles certain aspects of the campaigns. (Don’t yell at me; I’m a conservative and I feel that way as well.)
Anyway, it is now quite entertaining and informative politically. This is especially evident when compared with F & F, which has too much “fluff”, and CNN, which has news, but also seems to feature Dr. Gupta every five minutes.
Comment by Missy — January 31, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
written, not “write”
Comment by Missy — January 31, 2008 @ 3:07 pm
I would watch it if Mika weren’t on it. Can’t stand her. Nuff said!
Comment by sophia — January 31, 2008 @ 6:26 pm
I must say that I am a hugh Fox and Friends fan but lately I have been watching lots more Morning Joe…I can’t stand Mika but Joe has such a warm southern charm which I find quite refreshing. Come on Fox or you are going to lose lots of fans.
Comment by Gayle — January 31, 2008 @ 6:38 pm
I don’t mind Joe but I can’t stand Mika either. She was fine when anchoring but once she joined this show she started posing for the camera, having to chime in every few seconds, etc. Someone at MSNBC should force her to view video of her performance, and that’s what it looks like, an act. Let’s see if she could stomach watching that for an hour straight. When she’s not there, I’ll watch. Love Willie, by the way.
Comment by Char — February 1, 2008 @ 6:41 am
Sad show! Look at ratings please….. Even HLN and sometimes CNBC beat them, how embarrassing.
More news and less gossip. Please don’t just read the headline, it reminds me of when my son was in kindergarten.
There is a way to improve on Morning Joe’s audience appeal, replace him with David Shuster!
Comment by Carol — February 1, 2008 @ 7:57 am
They are both terrific - good banter - differing views (but always up for disagreements) - nice mix of “others” (Shuster, Willie, etc.) - great guests (who are more relaxed than during regular appearances elsewhere).
Comment by JC — February 1, 2008 @ 8:45 am
I have listened many mornings to your show and have really gotten tired of the Barrack Obama band wagon that you are on. I will start watching Fox News because there’s no difference between you and Chris Matthews. Neither of you can be non biased about the canidates.
Comment by Tommy Stephens — February 1, 2008 @ 9:05 am
I am a big fan of hard news - i.e. BBC World in the morning on PBS, and I always found CNN’s American Morning the most newsworthy of the morning shows.
However, I found Morning Joe a few months ago and it is the best show on MSNBC. Hardball is useless political gossip, Countdown is liberal O’reilly, and Tucker is just boring. But Morning Joe is not the same old show on the other networks. Its political talk, interviews with different people, and discussions about the news. Mika gives a good liberal perspective and Joe is the most tolerant conservative on the TV.
I am a moderate, but fiscally conservative, and I find Joe’s show as the most entertaining news show on TV. Yes, its ratings are low - but variety is key in cable news not the same old monolithic repetition amongst networks.
Comment by Omar — February 2, 2008 @ 4:03 am
They are working hard to make Obama President.
Comment by Stella — February 18, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Morning Joe is a wall to wall Obama`s lovefest.
Comment by bella — February 18, 2008 @ 3:54 pm
Joe should move over to the Fox network. His views are often bigoted in the minds of non- right wing advocates. Mika shows less bias than Joe. I don’t know why Fox doesn’t hire Pat Buchanan and Joe Scarborough. I think they would get a large audience on Fox.
Comment by Ang — March 31, 2008 @ 8:05 am
I WISH JOE WOULD JUST SHUT UP HIS BIG MOUTH. HE IS SO LIBERAL, AND NEVER HAS BEEN A REPUBLICAN AND I CANT STAND HIS ACCENT AND HES SO UGLY
Comment by JOYCE — July 11, 2008 @ 5:32 am
Talking pundidts all have opinions and you know what they say about opinions — they are like a-holes, everyone has one. The big a-hole is Joe. He comes across as pious, arrogant and all-knowing. When the talking heads become the story instead of reporting the story or “enlightening” all of us with their point of view, it’s no longer news — it’s just krap tied up like news. Trying to make this my morning cup of Joe for two weeks has made me want to purge it from my system.
Comment by Jim — August 27, 2008 @ 11:38 am
God put a hidden charm in difficult undertakings, only the courage to try to engage people aware of the difficulties that the charm
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