doubt the reason amazon b c has been successful is because of its liberal primetime lineup now phil griffin has had very little to do with that he did not bring people into the network government brought rachel maddow in and got her show so basically bill griffin's big score is joe scarborough and that morning show that conservative morning show he's the guy that me there who basically have given pat buchanan's a nazi apologist literally i'm not exaggerating you literally apologizes for hitler settles and so bad. gives him a kind of the green room was constantly on and also the senior political analyst who's name of play going on right now. mark halperin is also a conservative. sort of right wing type of figure. was made the senior political analyst at emerson b.c. so phil griffin has tried very hard to push back against the notion that m a c b c is liberal even though it makes people all of its money from its liver. primetime lineup now you definitely could say that the ad the polarization is what makes them successful and makes them not c.n.n. and these days now i want to switch gears and

i talked to phil griffin. very -- where was he? in his office somewhere. a few hours with me. >> good lord. >> very generous. >> what was your takeaway with your meeting with phil griffin? >> i have even more respect for him and the whole process. >> come on now. >> no. it's true. >> of course, talking about all of the -- relevant to the movie, all of the competition that goes on between morning shows, between the morning shows. >> yeah. >> you know. but here it's a different story. have producers ever asked you to do things you were uncomfortable with? >> well, off camera, yeah. i mean, yeah. take off my clothes, but we never do that, but, chris, he's got issues. >> we're very lucky here, because we do exactly what we want to do, and we give credits to phil for that. he sort of tried to tinker around for a week or two and said you know what? do wa what you want to do. >> is that why it's good? you seem free and it's improvisational. >> phil has given us complete freedom. >> spectacular. the whole issue of news versus entertainment comes up here, i suppose

news policy and his boss phil griffin the president of a mr b. c suspended him now olbermann is always fun for today and a lot of people when they announced it they said it was an indefinite suspension and it sounded like was going to go quite a bit longer so people were kind of surprised when on the second day of his suspension the network and i would be coming back the next day and i think that speaks volumes about the power that olbermann wields at the network is the channel's number one host he hosts their number one show countdown and without him as the anchor of their lineup they can have. a negative effect on the overall primetime lineup in the ratings that follow up what do you think because there are some rumors floating around that you know perhaps with this m s n b c n n comcast merger that olbermann might get kicked out of the thing there's any truth to that. it's still too soon to tell comcast is completing its acquisition of n.b.c. universal and steve kavis the president of n.b.c. news is expected to remain in that role now comcast

i talked to phil griffin.spent two, three hours with me, you know, and told me all manner of things, including news sources of entertainment and things -- competition and the cutthroat -- you know, the first competition in the show. have producers ever asked you to do things you were uncomfortable with for ratings? >> no, never! >> not in the last 10 minutes! >> never happens. >> i want to hear all those stories. >> we'll see you about that later. >> did you really enjoy working with rachel mcadams? >> she is spectacular and charming and diane keaton and harrison ford, come on. remember diane keaton in her movie? and on the dvd, frances co-pella tells you why he was a fantastic actor and always is. >> sounds like you're trying out for gene shalit's job. >> we have an opening. >> i love that gene shalit. >> you were just in a play in london? >> yes miami. i w -- yes ma'am. i was in a prisoner on second avenue with mercedes rule. >> do you like movie better or theater? >> i like them both. >> he's a happy man. >

. >> phil griffin, the president of msnbc, says, in my conversation with joe two weeks ago, he did notutions. since he did not seek or receive prior approval for three contributions, joe understands that i will be suspending him for violating our policy. >> and scarborough going along quietly with this suspension, not challenging it in any way, which i think will probably help him and the network put this behind them. there was this great melodrama as you'll remember with olberman because initially he was suspended indefinitely. there was debate, should there be a policy, how long will it last, will he be back before thanksgiving. scarborough wants to acknowledge his mistake and move on. >> to be blunt, this is scarborough, i had no interest in their campaigns other than being kind to long-time friends. because the contributions involved local, noncompetitive races and were given for personal rather than political reasons, i mistakenly believed i did not need approval from msnbc. >> well, this was a mistake on joe scarborough's part. no distinction these days between personal and polit

. >> phil griffin doesn't know this, we'll do a live show from the rl grill. >> they have salty and greasy great place. >> i meant that in a good way. >> rahm goes there. >> everything there comes with a side of bacon. doesn't matter what you get. >> u i don't have actually been there. >> have you been there before? >> rl -- ralph lauren, it's connected to the store, isn't it? yeah, it is. don't mock me. >> i didn't know that. >> why do you mock me? >> because i love. >> you do mock because you love. >> it's great. let's go to chuck todd. i wonder if he's been to the rl bar and grill in chicago. how are you doing? >> when i think diners, i don't think ralph lauren. >> it's not a diner. it's off michigan avenue. it's great. david axelrod is going to be spending a lot more time there going back to chicago. any surprise there? >> no. it's been -- they've telegraphed this one for quite a while, david plouffe coming into the white house at some point in the next couple months, david axelrod going out. it's part of this whole decision about who is going to be on the outside putting together the

. >> phil griffin. >> he's a legend. >> deservedly so. ld me all manner of funny backstage stories about -- >> the stuffhat goes on is unbelievable. >> you can tell me, i bet. what goes on, like, in this moe, you know, depicts a few things, but what do you do for -- for instance, the argument of news versus entertainment. >> the later in the day,he sillier is gets. that explains us. >> but you're fun, but you're naturally fun. you don't do things you don't want to doright? >> sometimes. >> like what? >> we did the sumo wrestling outfits like diane keaton did. remember that? >> we did that. that's fun. sometimes -- i don't know. whathave we -- we had to go looking for big foot once. >> yes. >> i wasn't thrilled about that. >> yes. >> where did you have to go? >> sasquatch. >> we went to pennsylvania, the mountains of pennsylvania. >> did you find him? >> no it got rated high, so that's -- >> you have a great cast in this movie. >> you don't have any scenes with harrison or diane. >> i wish, no, but diane keaton, when wonderful -- >> she's s