Tammy Haddad Out As Chris Matthews EP

We hear that "Hardball" exec producer Tammy Haddad is officially out thanks to Chris Matthews becoming the lowest-rated host on MSNBC primetime. Matthews — a front-and-center face at MSNBC and certainly a go-to pundit on all things political, including election coverage in November and chosen as to moderate one of MSNBC's two kickoff presidential debates in April, along with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams — has seen his ratings clock in consistently below Keith Olbermann — who is getting a network try-out this Sunday — and even Dan Abrams, who stepped in for Joe Scarborough amidst some changes to the show, yet still manages to consistently beat Matthews' ratings. Only Tucker Carlson , who is on at 4 and 6 pm, has lower ratings on the network.

Haddad, who has been with "Hardball" since 2004, caught, er, heck from Matthews last month when he unwittingly dropped an "s-bomb" on the air when he didn't know he was being broadcast. Rumor had it that Matthews wanted Haddad out after the episode, but there was no fallout, at least not then.

Last July, Haddad was named Vice President, Washington, for MSNBC, and MSNBC General Manager Abrams had this to say about her: "'Hardball' is the smartest political program on cable, and one of the reasons it is so good, is Tammy Haddad. She is one of the most tenacious, driven and energetic producers out there — she takes tremendous pride in her work for the network and for Chris Matthews and we are thrilled to have her on our team."

From the same press release:

"Tammy has been my friend for over twenty years," said Chris Matthews. "She is a big-time winner who delivers on her grand ideas."

Haddad has a long and storied career of success in cable news, including pioneering "Larry King Live" for CNN, being part of the team to take NBC's "Today Show" to number one, and was called "the most influential woman behind the TV news camera in Washington" last year by U.S. News' Paul Bedard. That she will land on her feet is a foregone conclusion; for Matthews, an old face at a network with new stars rising, things may not be so easily predicted.

We hear that MSNBC will be making the announcement shortly; email queries to the network have not yet been returned.

Update: Confirmed by TVNewser, which has more.

Clarification from MSNBC: "Tammy remains MSNBC's VP, Washington and will continue to oversee all of our political coverage, including super Tuesdays, primary coverage, debates and the College Tour."

Comments

[fredamae]

at the end of the day, freedom of speech/press is going, going, going.....­.....almos­t gone. looking to place blame??? how about expanding the possibilities to the Big Bosses at the top"?????
are they not, ultimately, the one(s) who dictate how to run the shows? who is to be interviewed? the topics to be covered? the amount of time to spend on distractions?
are they not the one who perpetuate the supposition of the publics interests? are they not the ones who help hide the real news?
i suggest the advertisers may also play a huge role. i further suggest the possibility of those very patrons being somehow "hooked up" with those in DC/lobbyis­ts/politic­al interests.

or am i just way the heck off? am i expecting too much by NOT wanting the "enquirer" mentality/subject matter on "news" stations? am i just being too interested in current affairs of our lawmakers and war-makers local and nationally?

we all know there is more going on than what we get to see, hear and learn about....am i too interested or are we all too complacent about taking action towards change? is change even possible at this point?

where is the outrage from the journalists who seem to be "OK" with the stifling run around?

[SadAmerican]

Attention: Dan Abrams, General Manger MSNBC, are you reading these comments? I certainly hope so. Please pay attention to your viewers!!!
Tucker MUST go; replace him with David Schuster.
Take "Morning Joe" off the air NOW; give him back his nightly show, he was okay on that.
It's time to tell Chris Matthews GOOD-BY; he is absolutely unbearable anymore. Save "Hardball" by replacing him with Mike Barnicle.
I have been watching him all week: he is very GOOD and very Fair.
Please Dan,I implore you to do something to save your network Do it NOW.

[Peg]

No Mike Barnicle. He doesn't have a strong core. One minute he's one way the next, who knows. He's playing to the audience too much. He holds a Republicans feet to the fire one minute but then in the next segment he lets them slide. I want a real true Progressive who's not afraid to speak their mind.
Rachel Maddow should be given either the Tucker slot or the Matthews slot. Take Joe off immediately and put in Phil Donahue. He deserves it after the shoddy way they treated him before the war. He was right about everything and MSNBC was too afraid to be seen not 'waving the flag.' Robert Kennedy, Jr. deserves air time too as does the first Progressive woman who filled in after Imus was taken off the air.
I'm sick of all the Conservatives on ALL the channels. If we can't get a mix of views by simply requesting it of the provider then we should organize to bring back the Fairness Doctrine and force the network and cable hands. The Dems are too stupid to see they hurt themselves when they let the Repuglicans call the tune. The only person who speaks to my point of view is Keith Olbermann and he's only one hour out of a 24 hour period.
Another thing, stop the Chris Hanson voyeurism shows. The men in the audience are getting off on watching the reruns I'm sure.

[kkotrba]

Matthews HAD a producer? I'm surprised to read that. Was she responsible for the Ann Coultier fiasco?

[wcfar]

I do not trust any of the weasels on the tube to do anything else but please their corporate daddies and hope to get famous.

[GenericBlogger]

A lot of posts appropriately lambaste Chris Matthews but let's not forget that Tammy Haddad has been the producer of the show for three years.

Her firing doesn't mean she was the good or angelic one among that group.

[carlsagan9]

i don't understand all this "chris matthews is a republican sycophant" business... he was clearly skeptical of the war before it started, he's pro-choice, he sick of the administration, its incompetence, etc. he was also a speach writer for president carter, worked for speaker tip o'neill, and went to the peace corp in africa when he was in his 20's. is that boiler-plate republican?

does this seem republican? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4778807/ search for "doctor" on the page

MATTHEWS: If you go back to state‘s rights on abortion, would you support banning abortion in Pennsylvania?

TOOMEY: Yes, I would, yes.

MATTHEWS: In other words, if a woman had an abortion in Pennsylvania, what would you do to her? .
MATTHEWS: You are running for the United States Senate.

MATTHEWS: And you‘ve said we ought to get rid of Roe v. Wade and you said that abortion should be banned in Pennsylvania, but you won‘t tell me what the penalty should be.

TOOMEY: That‘s right, Chris.

Look, we can take things one step at a time. I think that the constitutional decision was invalid. It‘s perfectly OK to believe that these justices made up a right that doesn‘t exist in the Constitution without deciding exactly what the penalty should be under all circumstances.

MATTHEWS: You want to make up a law without a penalty. It‘s a crime without a penalty. I‘ve never heard of such a thing.

on the war, try googling '"chris matthews" transcript war cheney flowers' and you'll find an interview like http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5067144/

and on southern presidents:
"We love good mayors because we love our cities and Giuliani's the city guy," Matthews said. "I'm so sick of Southern guys with ranches running this country. I want a guy to run for president who doesn have a [bleeping] -- I'm sorry -- a ranch. Wouldn't that be good, a guy who wasn't on the ranch during Katrina, he [Giuliani] was on the street corner answering questions [during 9/11]." admittedly this is a pro-giuliani statement, but it's also anti-bush.

[hjo4]

Chris Matthews is on vacation.If he returns he won't be moderator for Hardball very long.That's my prediction.Thing is Mike Barncle (sp) isn't much better than Matthews.Schuester would be a better replacement for Matthews,IMO.I still Dan Abrams is better off camera.

[VOTER]

Shuster is thoughtful, intelligent and right on when

delivering a story.

Without a doubt, he deserves his own show and

replacing Morning, Joe with an AM Shuster Show would

be a great move by MSNBC.

[nellie]

There's a reason Matthews is the lowest rated host. He offers no useful insight into any policy question, he fawns, he thinks his personal opinion is actually a news story, and he appears to have no journalistic integrity whatsoever. He can fire as many executive producers as MSNBC hires for him, it's not going to change the basic flaw in his show -- which is the host.

[alncarter]

MSNBC and CNN are just more Fox. Except for Olderman, it's all one long GOP daisy-chain.

[endymian]

matthews' problem is that he seems stuck in a time warp, with an identity crisis. how many sports anaologies does one have to suffer discuss politics in 2007. half the time he sounds like he's sitting around a 1950's den with the other dads! sometimes, when he gives up his pedantry, he nails the politics right on, but most of the time, he twists and turns obvious facts that he doesn't want to acknowledge. those times--too much of the time--you sit there and wonder if he thinks he can be that fast and free with the facts and such blatanlty flawed anyalysis, or if he really is driven, but not quite as slick in the head department as a talking head shoudl be. one of his worst preformances was the first democratic debate. and mention the name clinton, and he goes off his impeachment style deep end every time.

if his produceer couldn't reign in the bad behavior and fix the problems, then she should share the blame. but, what do you do when the sales manager has left and what are you are selling is the problem.

the only problem here, is that in some ways matthews actually seems more of the genunine dinasour of a political commentator than most of his cnn, network colleagues. next to the likes of meet the press, he's acutally seems to be doing more than supporting general electric's clients and rigging his shows. on the other hand you have to ask why he and his producer make us suffer want to be self-redeemed culture war czar buchanan and the likes of third rate hate monguering and agenda driven change my hair color, my makeup, my attire want to be taken seriously hack kate o'burne. this is ceratinly a show, where the commentary from the other side of the table has been too conistently weak and programmed.

[szlevi]

Matthews became just as bad as Tucker C - from the other side. Tucker at least toned down becuase he probably realized he's not as smart as he once thought and being loud and not-so-smart is just plain ridiculous while Matthews, who still thinks he's much more smarter than he really is, became even more louder, arrogant, 'in-your-face' person.
Matthews IS irritating. I used to watch him every day, back when Iraq War Games started but I stopped watching him almost 2 years ago - he's untolerable now, that's all.

BUT I LOVE KEITH! He's eloquent, he's SMART, Mr Matthews, without coming across all the time as somebody who thinks he's very smart, he's witty, he's STRAIGHT and talks to me in a well-mannered style - OLBERMANN IS the ONLY CHANCE MSNBC HAS for the future, period.
Chris has to revamp himself - tone down! stop cutting off! stop blithering! - if he wants to survive, that's for sure; he's by no means a match for Keith, everybody knows it now.

[MorgaineSwann]

No one is to blame for Chris Matthews' low ratings except the man himself. He's a caricature of a news person. I'm sick of his harrassing the attractive women who have the misfortune to appear on his show, and if I hear him breathlessly gush about how macho Geo.W. is one more time, I'll scream. All he could talk about after the Dem debate on MSNBC was how "scrawny" Edwards and Kucinich were. Personally, I'd prefer a president with a brain and a soul. All Chris seems to need is a little Top Gun fantasy. He's a joke - they should fire HIM.

[NightOwlCafe]

blaming ms. haddad for hardball's poor ratings isn't looking at the full picture. whoever books the guests, giving coulter the hate spewer a full hour, should be replaced. matthews rarely tries to get to the truth of an issue and instead gushes over republican men, wearing his "man crush" for them on his sleeve and can not disguise his pathological dislike for the clintons. republican rehab may be the answer for chris, in the meantime david shuster will be a stellar sub. i don't watch barnacle. there is a REASON olbermann's ratings are so good, matthews could learn something from him.

[IMPRISONBUSH]

WHAT I dont understand is - is mathews coming back ( I hope he dose ), but I also hope he starts taking the REPUBLICANS TO TASK .
THEY repeat the same answer over and over again I mean i have NEWS CLIPS i can show where they are out right lieing.
AMD as far as the so called BOOMB gos I missed it or it went right by me, but I was right all the while " TUCKER " must be telling msnbc that his kids are staving to keep the job.
the man is a FOX wannsbe I don't minde hearing both sides to the story but TUCKER LIE, CHEAT ,ETC FOR BUSH, CHENEY AND A COWARD HE REMINDES ME OF THE YOUNG REPUBLICANS WHEN ASKED TO ENLIST FOUND PAINS IN THERE LEGS, HANDS, BACK, ETC. ITS CALLED COWARDNESS PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

[Jimhurley]

Either live or via TIVO,for me Olberman's on the mark political comments and mix of well informed guests is a must see show For Matthews and Carlson it's a peek see and goodbye unless a substitute is on. Using a baseball analogy, MNSBC has a great farm team in Maddow, Barnicle and Shuster among others. Time to evaluate tryouts and bring them to the majors.


Jim Hurley