The Chris Matthews Show

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The Chris Matthews Show is a half-hour weekend news and political roundtable program produced by NBC News in Washington, D.C., and nationally syndicated by NBC Universal Television Distribution. The program debuted on September 22, 2002, and began its fifth season in September, 2006.

The program usually airs on Sunday mornings before or after the Sunday morning talk shows.

Chris Matthews serves as the program's moderator, and Matthews is joined each week by a rotating group of four journalists. Either Andrea Mitchell or David Gregory, both of NBC News, will occasionally sit in for him.

Although Chris Matthews is also the host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Chris Matthews Show has no editorial or production relationship with Hardball. The shows air on different days of the week, have separate staffs and are not broadcast on the same network.

[edit] Program Format

Each 30-minute program features an opening roundtable-style discussion segment, usually on a major news story of the week; a second discussion segment often focusing on presidential politics and occasionally on cultural topics; a third segment called 'Tell Me Something I Don't Know,' where the four panelists report to Matthews new information they have gleaned from their reporting; and a closing commentary by Matthews.

During the program, Matthews will "take a look at the Matthews Meter," a survey taken by twelve of the show's regular panelists. The question will generally be of the yes/no variety, i.e. "Is Dick Cheney a liability for President Bush?" or "Will Barack Obama run for President in '08?".

In 2007, the show introduced the segment "The Big Question," in which Matthews asks the four panelists a Matthews-meter-type question. This segment closes the show.