How did Morning Joe become so popular?

[LeftyAndProud60]

Just curious

[Oceansaway]

1. think kneepads....nt...(jk)

[Common Sense Party]

2. Is it popular? What kind of ratings does it get?

On edit: I guess it does better than shows on CNN and Headline at the same time...but it's way behind Fox in the same time slot.

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/21/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-january-20-2011-piers-morgan-gets-little-help-from-ricky-gervais/79685

[TreasonousBastard]

11. He's up by a few thousand, but so what when he can't get half a million viewers...

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/21/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-january-20-2011-piers-morgan-gets-little-help-from-ricky-gervais/79685

Net Morning programs (6-9 AM) P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)

FNC FOX & Friends 834 281 519
CNN American Morning 187 85 105
MSNBC Morning Joe 479 136 218
CNBC Squawk Box 172 85 103
HLN Morning Express w/ Meade 297 161 18

(On edit-- this place really louses up tabs)


Compare that to broadcast mornign news:

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/category/morning-show-ratings

Total Viewers: NBC: 5.87M / ABC: 4.73M / CBS: 3.02M
A25-54 viewers: NBC: 2.70M / ABC: 1.82M / CBS: 1.29M

[Common Sense Party]

12. Wow, not even close to the broadcast giants.

But then neither is Fox.

So basically, Morning Joe is #2 of the B team.

[aaaaaa5a]

21. Sometimes we forget that all cable shows have very few viewers

relative to the networks. FOX loves to tout their numbers, but the people watching Beck, Hannity and O'reilly a just a handful of viewers compared to the broadcast networks.

Because most people here are heavily involved in politics, the nightly cable news wars seems like a very big deal. But my bet is most of the public probably has no idea there is even an ongoing partisan dispute with nightly cable news shows.



The truth is MSNBC, CNN and FOX all have very few viewers (which makes the ongoing dispute between them actually really stupid). When the finally ratings come out for the NFL football games this weekend, the TV audience is going to top 40 million people. Now that's a TV audience!


Not everyone is into this "political thing" like we are.

[Bluenorthwest]

29. Close. They are the C team. The B team is local news.

And local morning shows.

[Common Sense Party]

32. That's true. It is amazing how worked up we can get about

cable shows that don't even have a million viewers, in a country of 300 million plus.

[aaaaaa5a]

44. My point exactly.

This is the same reason why off year elections have nothing to do with the President's chances of re-election (regardless of party). The off year elections are for the cable news crowd. Presidential elections are when everyone votes. And that's when Obama will dominate again.

[Ozymanithrax]

3. I've never watched Morning Joe...

And considering that I won't watch MSNBC again, I am not likley to watch it.

So its charms escape me.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. How popular is it? Is it popular at all?

What are you basing this on?

[Common Sense Party]

6. I guess they get about 400,000 - 500,000 viewers

according to this link:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/01/21/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-january-20-2011-piers-morgan-gets-little-help-from-ricky-gervais/79685

Better than CNN, worse than Fox.

[Bluenorthwest]

28. Since when are there only three channels?

They are in the middle of a niche toward the very bottom. Take Good Morning America, averages about 4.3 million viewers a day. Cable's top 15 shows, excluding big special events, are in the 4-9 million viewer range. There are local morning shows in large markets that get half a million and more viewers in one city.
Not seeing how this as popular, really.

[doc03]

5. I like the show, I think although Joe calls himself a Conservative

he is a moderate compared to the nut jobs at Fox. The thing I like most about the show they talk about the issues like adults without getting into a shouting match.

edit for spell check

[whathehell]

7. The reason they don't get into a "shouting match" in my opinion,

is because for the first two hours of his show, basically, you have no on but Repukes and a Blue Dog Dem or two...Not much to fight about.

[doc03]

13. The extremes on either side make a lot of noise

but in my opinion the vast majority of Americans are centrists. I don't care to see radicals from either side that may only represent 25% of their party scream at each other. You watch Fox and both sides try to talk over each other, whoever makes the most noise is the winner..

[whathehell]

24. To be honest, I'm so tired of people using terms they never define, like "centrist"...It's getting

to be like "middle class" -- everyone has their own idea of what it is, and everyone claims to be one.

For the record, I don't see many "radicals" from the supposed "Left"....What we have are far right wingnuts, blue dogs, a few democrats from the democratic wing of the democratic party and probably even fewer "moderate" republicans

[doc03]

40. Like it or not Obama's poll numbers are up because he

has moved towards the center. What most Americans consider left wing radical you call real Democrats I guess. Everyone knows that in the primaries in either party you run to the left or the right, then after they get the nomination they tend to moderate to get those swing voters.

[Name removed]

42. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeftyAndProud60]

8. his arrogance is just as high as anyone on FOx News tho. nt

[Phx_Dem]

16. Joe is totally full of shit, but aside from him I like the show too.

He goes back and forth between calling himself converative (to please Republicans) and calling himself a moderate (to please Democrats). And he was especially full of shit with regard to tax cuts for the rich. For months he whined about how increasing taxes on rich people would the economy and cost jobs! But as soon as Obama/Congress agreed to extend all tax cuts and the public overwhelmingly support it, Joe is all . . . "I've said all along that tax cuts for the rich shouldn't have been included! They don't need the money!" Apparently, Joe forgets his show is on TV.

[Cosmocat]

18. It is an absolute freak show ...

the reason they don't "get into a shouting match" is because everyone bows to Scarborough like a family full of COAs ... It is like a bad after school special where everyone walks on glass trying to not make the the father angry enough to beat them half to death ...

The appeal for the trainwreck is a bunch of 40-50 year olds who want to believe they are still cool ...

[doc03]

20. Would you prefer Fox and Friends or whatever the

hell is on CNN to Morning Joe?

[Cosmocat]

45. I would prefer ...

something other than watching spineless MSMers bow to some half witted conservative bully ...

For that reason, I don't watch any media news show in the morning ...

I can't stand CNN at this point, and of course I am not watching Faux ...

Again, I WANT to support MSNBC, but I can't watch it, it is sad, pathetic and painful ...

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

30. .

:thumbsup:

[Ninga]

9. Has somewhat of a following here, maybe one of his fans will speak up. I boycotted

the show very early on and have caught the drift of what's going on, by reading posts.

Cable providers know which shows are the most watched, and Nielson boxes are NOT the only souce of tracking. That is why I don't watch Morning Schmoe and that sad excuse of a side kick....Mika, and pubs like Buchanan.

[annabanana]

37. I occasionally watch him to find out

what conservative frames are being pushed by the villagers...
I consider it oppo research.

[CakeGrrl]

10. It helps when the MSM insulates Republicans against scandal like so:

From Scarborough's Wikipedia entry (bold emphasis is mine):

Scarborough announced his intent to resign to spend more time with his children five months into his fourth term in Congress. "The realization has come home to me that they're at a critical stage of their lives and I would rather be judged at the end of my life as a father than as a congressman," Scarborough said.<19> A special election was held to replace him.

On July 20, 2001, Scarborough's constituent services coordinator, Lori Klausutis, age 28, died after hitting her head on a desk when she fainted while apparently alone in Scarborough's Fort Walton Beach, Florida, office.<20> According to Scarborough, soon after her death, allegations "spread all over the Internet" that he had been involved,<20><21> although there was no evidence of foul play. In 2003, he joked about the incident with Don Imus on Imus's radio program.<22> In 2004, it was the subject of a public spat between Scarborough and filmmaker Michael Moore.<23> In 2010, Markos Moulitsas was banned from MSNBC after mentioning the incident in his Twitter feed.<24>

[Stuckinthebush]

14. No clue. It is massive crap

and, Mika...jeez. Don't get me started.

[Supersedeas]

39. throw in a little Harold Ford and Peggy Nonners and we have a real stinkfest

[Phx_Dem]

15. It's actually a great format and most of the guests are good.

The only bad things about the show are Joe, Donny Deusch and the always clueless Mike Barnicle. I've even grown to like Mika somewhat. I don't love her, but I don't dislike her either.

I like the roundtable format as well as the economic segment with Erin Burnett, the morning papers segment and the Chuck/Savannah morning updates. I didn't watch it for a while, but I missed getting all the news in the morning -- which always seems to elude CNN -- so I tuned back in.

[Cosmocat]

19. I WANT to like it ... The "format" ...

is, hey, we are really cool and hip 40-50 year old people ...

Nothing to not like about that ...

Other than everyone clearly scared of 1) their job 2) their life of not cowing 99.9% to what Scarborough deems acceptable ...

I WANT to watch the show because of the format and to support MSNBC, but I can't make it past a minute ...

It is just horrific ...

[Phx_Dem]

23. When they have a guest on that I just can not stomach, including

almost all Republicans and Arianna Huffington, I change the channel to CNN for about 5 minutes. Then switch it back when they're gone. I only watch for the last two hours so I don't usually see too many politicians. They must be on during the first half of the show.

[CTyankee]

31. There HAVE been some great pushbacks to Joe, mostly Lawrence O'Donnell.

Katrina Vandenheuval is another, altho she is too nice. Anthony Weiner is always good for a zinger or two. I liked the exchange between Arianna and Joe Lieberman last week (when he derisively called her "sweetheart"). And WHO could forget Barbara Walters telling Mika that she should get a vibrator...

[NatBurner]

33. and zbigniew brzezinski

that was a classic smackdown

[CTyankee]

34. "stunningly superficial." Joe had a T shirt made with that. I remember when zbig

said that to him...Joe oughtta know better than to spar with him.

[whathehell]

43. Did Barbara Walters really say that?....

Or are you just trying to see if we're paying attention?}(

[aaaaaa5a]

17. When did Morning Joe go to 2 hours?

They now just repeat the first hour for hour 3.

[Diamonique]

41. I don't know when it started, but I've noticed it over the past week or so.

[pansypoo53219]

22. i tried to watch a clip posted here.

it's awful. too many people, stupid camera work. ridiculous.

[ClassWarrior]

25. How did content-free leading questions with no basis in reality become so popular?

Just sayin.

NGU.

[FrenchieCat]

26. He's a Republican. That should fill you in on why he would be popular on Cable.....

[NatBurner]

27. i like the dj

classic rock and classic hip-hop- the only two genres that matter

plus, i occasionally need to be lightly misted with a warm spray of right-wing douche talking points, and i don't wanna give fox the ratings

[zulchzulu]

35. I will watch Moron Joe for about 3 minutes when dressing in the morning

It's always stupid in some regard.

[Joanne98]

36. They didn't

[old mark]

38. I don't know- I have never watched it...nt

[ElsewheresDaughter]

46. is he?