It may be the father of the rau-cous political free-for-alls, but The McLaughlin Group is in trouble. First, it lost its best time period: 10 a.m. Sunday on NBC flagship WNBC New York. Second, its ratings sank. In May, the show dropped to second place behind CBS News Sunday Morning. At its peak in New York, the show commanded 750,000 viewers. Now it averages 321,000. The latest indignity: Host John McLaughlin will lose his New York time slot to his protege, Chris Matthews. Why? The internal view at NBC is that Matthews, 57, a former panelist on McLaughlin, is a rising star. He's a workhorse who writes bestsellers, hosts Hardball, and provides political-campaign analysis for NBC News. Plus, he anchors The Chris Matthews Show, a kinder, gentler version of his nightly brawl. WNBC President and General Manager Frank Comerford says Matthews' upgrade is just good business. When Matthews is paired as the lead-in to Meet the Press, ratings improve for both shows. "This isn't a negative for McLaughlin," he insists, noting that McLaughlin will get Matthews' old time period at 11:30 a.m. The Chris Matthews Show is sold by NBC's in-house syndication unit. Sean O'Boyle, senior vice president and national syndication sales manager, says the upgrade in New York "should give Chris a nice bump in the ratings." More viewers tend to tune in at the top of the hour than at the half-hour. "We just think it's Chris's time. He's hot."
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