could care less

And I don’t watch Barney the dinosaur reruns

I'll post my explanation of why not there and watch here for answers to your very interesting question.

All I've noticed is that Joe's opening seems to have become a very long and tedious verbal polemic against Trump, and the show interspersed with more, their trudging repetition replacing real energy and excitement, so that I've wondered if they're losing confidence or hope. That's just a vague notion from someone who doesn't actually listen to it, though. Maybe trouble in their private life is wearing them down. But I'd love to know what Joe knows. If he were scared, I would be also.

He does seem more hysterical than usual. I think a lot of the excess is because, unlike most never Trumpers, he was supposedly a friend of Trump even up to the election. Stayed at maralago. So shame creates defensiveness.

Republicans in power. Shame at what the Republican leadership have become and what they're doing to our nation seems reasonable.

Fwiw, my take is that he was never a friend of Trump himself. Trump has plenty of users, but frankly, I have trouble imagining what kind of mind could feel friendship for a cruel, disordered creep, a career criminal who literally didn't know what congress did or how to pronounce Yosemite.

Republicans in power. Shame at what the Republican leadership have become and what they're doing to our nation seems reasonable.

Fwiw, my take is that he was never a friend of Trump himself. Trump has plenty of users, but frankly, I have trouble imagining what kind of mind could feel friendship for a cruel, disordered creep, a career criminal who literally didn't know what congress did or how to pronounce Yosemite.

year. And with three hours, they have the time to do it properly. IMHO it is worth watching.

Joe takes other days off, too. I've been wondering if he's writing a book or something.

One of his kids has asthma or some other issue that would be bad in combination with Covid 19, so I think Joe's been keeping closer tabs on him.

But I'm leary every time somebody's MIA these days. I'm always afraid they were exposed to Covid.

Everyone takes breaks around now. Haven't seen Stephen Colbert in going on two weeks, other than in the public service announcements he's doing for South Carolina's PBS. Rachel Maddow took long a vacation, too. And, with the election coming up, and everything that is going on, people need to recharge. I suspect that's mostly what's going on. They need the mental health breaks more than ever these days.

All of Europe is off. It was amazing to watch when I was there.
The ruling class here pretty much does the same.

I hadn’t watched it in years.

... I've seen this with Rachel, also. These TV hosts are very successful and have many contracted are days off... the bigger hosts can take their days w/o explaining, I think. And the network doesn't want viewers to know when or why... so Rachel takes a week off, and adds a day. The sub is not allowed to say that, even when they know... Joe & Mika do the same, and they probably have something to do today. They probably work an average of 4 days a week and take a lot of "personal" days. MSNBC doesn't want viewers to know, feeling many will not watch, if the host is absent.

They may be taking a break while they can.

The chronic unease because of this so-called presidency and fear of another four year is exhausting.

It's unlikely, but that would damn sure make me uneasy.

area.He could very easily parrot and praise Trump. But he doesn’t. I give him a lot of credit for for his anti Trump stance and especially because of where he is from. They used to try and patronize Trump. Now 180 degrees away from that course he holds Trump accountable. Was he reformed my Mika??? Probably. Can he change if he and Mika breakup?? Probably. Remember that he is a lawyer and lawyers can supposedly defend either side of an argument. Joe has worked for one of the richest most powerful lawyers in the USA. That is the lawyer that smoked cigarettes throughout an interview with John Stossel about his part in the huge lawsuit that got billions for states.

Both Joe and MEka were Trump sycophants. They only turned against Trump because they wanted jobs in his administration and he said no. And MEka is no liberal. She's an anti-choice, pro-gun conservative like Joe and always has been.

They were gone a lot last year as well. Must have a lot of vacation days built into their contract.

251 X 3 hours each day = 753 hours to program.

That's a lot. Each block (time between commercials) needs to be thought out hours or days in adavance. Joe and Mika can't be in all of them. They are both driven poeple so I assume they work on side projects when off the air. They have leverage with MSNBC because they deliver viewers, so they can get favorable contracts with time off camera. They can come and go unexplained to the viewer. I call this a "Houdindi" - create an impression they're always around, but they're not.