Hardball swings for the bleachers while NBC serves leftovers

Things over at NBC must really be bad. I'm sure that parent company GE is screaming that the bills need to get cut down a notch or 3. This has to be the reason why NBC will be replaying the Olympics this weekend.

2 hours of competition that everyone who cared has seen already. All on Saturday. Because Saturday Night Live may be getting better ratings that in several years, but they still suck overall.

If you ask me it's just a way to save money. It's far easier to put on a rerun than to have paid original programming. And since America loves to win a night of the wins of Michael Phelps should bring in as many viewers as they normally would get. At half the cost.

But things are not all gloomy. MSNBC's Hardball lead Chris Matthews might not renew his contract. That's an extra $5 million a year that can stay in the bank.

I really would enjoy if he gets off the air. I can't imagine 4 years of Matthews discussing his erection everytime that President Obama speaks. Seriously, he needs to stop sharing. Not that anyone really noticed his bluster. The naysayers will polispeak all they want but Hardball is hardly a ratings winner.

Though the program is up huge in percentages, MSNBC and Hardball still trail badly in total viewers - which is the only thing that really matters. And that is with massive amounts of selling-out to Democrats and rallying for Obama like political cheerleaders.

Now the real question is if Chris Matthews does leave it will be to run for Senate in Pennsylvania. So could he win? I can imagine his slogan now, "I just want to be closer to Obama, please elect me."

Representative Murtha, and various polls, may state that much of Pennsylvania is redneck, but Matthews is still unpleasant, a sellout, and liberal. I can't imagine him winning. But I will say this in his favor, he is more qualified than Caroline Kennedy. Yet that isn't saying much.

So GE is looking forward to a couple of Christmas gifts. And we the public get a retread and a worn old tread at best. Must see TV, I think not.