Chris Matthews just retired from Hardball. Here’s who should take his place on MSNBC.

| 8:51 pm EST March 2, 2020
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Chris Matthews opened his longtime MSNBC show Hardball tonight by abruptly announcing his immediate retirement. Just how abrupt was it? He didn’t even finish the episode, disappearing after the first commercial break, and leaving a stunned Steve Kornacki to finish out the hour. So who’s going to replace Matthews?

At this point it’s difficult to predict what MSNBC might do. Last week the network took Jason Johnson off the air because he was too mean to the Bernie campaign. Now Chris Matthews, who made controversial comments about Bernie last week, is also suddenly gone. The network is clearly afraid of retaliation from Bernie fans. But that doesn’t mean they’re going to hire a Bernie fan to take over Hardball. In any case, here’s what MSNBC should do with his time slot.

Nicolle Wallace is far too good at what she does to be mired in the 4pm weekday time slot, when most people are still at their day jobs instead of watching television. Her ratings are strong for her time slot, and she’s familiar trusted face. MSNBC should move her to the 7pm slot. Then it should consider giving Shep Smith, who stood up to Sean Hannity and then quit Fox News, the 4pm slot.

Steve Kornacki is an excellent statistical analyst and we learn a lot from his segments, but he doesn’t strike us as a full-time host. There’s speculation that Brian Williams could move up to 7pm. But while he’s done well in the 11pm time slot, which is supposed to be a ratings graveyard, the reality is that most people watch him because Lawrence O’Donnell has finished and they’re not ready to go to bed yet. Give the Hardball slot to Nicolle Wallace. She’s earned it and she’ll do well in it.