Hardball with Chris Matthews

1997 · TV Series · TV-PG

Less advocacy-driven than 100% of Documentary titles →
IMDBTMDB
Audience evidenceThe verdict — who this is for, by the receipts

Made first for older men 1

Hardball with Chris Matthews's audience scores lean most toward older men at 71 of 100, with comparable appeal to young men 1. Its overall reach is rated targeted — targeted reach aimed at a specific demographic segment 2. Relative to the expected cast make-up for its production origin, on-screen representation registers above the baseline for Black and below it for Hispanic and White 3. On content balance it reads entertainment-first at 0 of 100, weighting storytelling over explicit messaging 4.

The receipts — every claim above is sourced
  1. 1
    Audience scoreolder men 71 of 100 is the top quadrant, with young men 64 close behind.WhatSphere audience model, score_version 1
  2. 2
    ReachAudience breadth rated targeted.WhatSphere audience model, score_version 1
  3. 3
    RepresentationRepresentation vs production-origin baseline: Black 95, Hispanic 28, White 31.WhatSphere representation model, score_version 1
  4. 4
    Content balanceContent balance entertainment-first at 0 of 100.WhatSphere content-balance model, score_version 1

WhatSphere presents the sourced record; it does not cast the judgement. Every statement above is drawn from a stored, sourced row — shown beside it — and nothing is asserted beyond what those receipts support.

Data updated March 29, 2026Scored, pending verification.Think a score is wrong? Submit a correction.

Synopsis

Hardball with Chris Matthews is an American television talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 7 PM ET hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told by One Who Knows the Game. Hardball is a talking-head style cable news show where the moderator advances opinions on a wide range of topics, focusing primarily on current political issues. These issues are discussed with a panel of guests that usually consists of political analysts and sometimes include politicians. It also runs in a "Best of" format Saturday mornings at 5 AM.

Young MaleYoung FemaleMature MaleMature Female
Primary audienceOlder Men
Targeted

Quadrant Scores

Young Men
64
Young Women
29
Older Men
71
Older Women
36
Advocacy0
Entertainment

Audience Representation

White
31
Black
95
Hispanic
28
Asian
38
South Asian
46
Middle Eastern
48
Indigenous
48
Mixed
42
Other
48
LGBTQ+
0
Score version: v1Data confidence: 100%How are scores calculated?

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Advocacy Over Time in Documentary

The average advocacy score of Documentary titles by release year, with this title marked. Higher is more advocacy-driven.

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Average advocacy score of Documentary titles by release year
YearAverage advocacyTitles
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2008113
200905
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2020117
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This title (1997)01

This title (1997): advocacy 0 · explore Documentary

Cast & Crew