MSNBC Shoots Down Proposed Chris Matthews Cameo in Aaron Sorkin’s HBO Pilot

New York’s Joe Adalian reports that MSNBC has apparently nixed a proposed cameo by Chris Matthews in Aaron Sorkin‘s HBO pilot about cable news. Sorkin followed Matthews for a time while he was researching for the show. According to Adalian, Matthews was supposed to appear as part of a roundtable scene with Andrew Breitbart.

As noted in the item, cable news anchors routinely appear in scripted films and TV shows playing themselves. So why nix the cameo? Adalian writes:

It’s not like MSNBC has a blanket no-scripted-programming order for their anchors: Matthews played an MSNBC reporter two years ago in the Russell Crowe pic State of Play. And a guest spot on Sorkin’s show would likely be good for publicity; assuming it goes to series, Develops will likely boast an audience filled with the sort of left-leaning smarties targeted by the news-and-opinion network. So what was the problem? Our spy speculates that even though Sorkin’s ideology meshes with MSNBC’s, the network’s brass may have taken issue with the way More portrays the world of cable news and its corporate culture.

 

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.