We're all excited about voting tomorrow, Chris Matthews. Let's not ruin it by reminding everyone how you are confusing real life and Mad Men again.
Think of the Kennedys,” Mr. Matthews said, when asked the impact on Washington if Obama wins. “A mixed administration. Pragmatic. Some liberal tendencies, not overwhelming. Very tough. Very smart. Thin ties — are you looking at this?”
He demonstrated on his own black silk tie, folding it in half. “Well-turned-out men. No sloppiness. Just work.
“It will be zesty,” he added.
Goddammit. How are we not giving this guy the Meet the Press slot? America needs more colorful, strangely inappropriate adjectives peppered through the next four years of administration!
With the election finally upon us tomorrow, it's time to move beyond who's going to play house in the White House to who's going to fill Meet The Press' moderator chair, to replace Tom Brokaw, who replaced Tim Russert on an interim basis. Back in June, when Russert died, the list of possible candidates included these names: Andrea Mitchell, David Gregory, Katie Couric, Chuck Todd, Gwen Ifill, and Tom Brokaw. Now that we're approaching the timeline of when NBC News will supposedly make a decision — between Nov. 4 and Dec. 31 — the names being floated about are: Andrea Mitchell, David Gregory, Katie Couric, Chuck Todd, Gwen Ifill, and Tom Brokaw. Oh good: Change we can believe in. [NYT, earlier]
Some folks can actually see beyond Nov. 4, to a time after Americans know who their next president will be. And who their next Meet The Press moderator will be. Right now, Tom Brokaw is filling in for the deceased Tim Russert, but he's only holding things down till the election. Then, a replacement will be named; some suspect multiple moderators might be chosen (unlikely, say we). David Gregory and Chuck Todd are said to both be serious contenders. They are both white men, just like Russert and Brokaw! Which has led some — including those capable of registering domain names — to urge NBC to consider non-white, non-male candidates. We hear there's some lady named Gwen Ifill? CONTINUED »
NBC's Meet the Press is sloooowly dipping in ratings since the death of host Tim Russert. The station was beaten out by CBS's Face the Nation last month, barely ahead of ABC's This Week.
The question isn't: Why is MTP falling, since the answer is obvious: Russert was Meet the Press. The question is, why did it take so long?
CONTINUED »
When Matt Drudge last week "broke news" that Gwen Ifill — at that point the upcoming moderator to the vice presidential debate — was writing a book about black politics in America and releasing it on Inauguration Day, conservatives quickly shaped the story to make everyone think the PBS (and NBC) veteran was authoring a pro-Obama book and, thus, wasn't qualified to moderate what will likely be the most-watched of the debates. Except, as we explained, Ifill wasn't writing a pro-Obama book, and she's about the most objective, fair journalist out there who's absolutely perfect to moderate a debate. Yesterday, then, Ifill appeared on Meet The Press (alongside a sleep Peggy Noonan) and, because this is a NBC network, was also forced to sit through Queen Latifah's tame Saturday Night Live impersonation — minus Latifah plugging Ifill's book. "Being played by Queen Latifah is not a bad thing."
Meanwhile: CONTINUED »
"He's one of the rookies of the year," said NBC News President Steve Capus. "Here's a man at the worst possible time in his life who stepped into the spotlight with great poise, strength and a sense of humor, with a love of politics and a love for NBC.
"Everybody in the political world knows Luke Russert," Capus said."They knew him before (his father's death) and they know him after it. Here is a guy who is going to get his calls returned."
[AP ]
That's funny, because Luke Russert, last anyone checked in, sort of floundered his way around interviews on Nightly News, and spent a lot of time trying to think of what his father would say in a situation.
If a famous dad and an inferiority complex were all the requirements needed to be named NBC's rookie of the year, than why hasn't Rumer Willis stepped up to the plate yet?
With just a couple months to go before November's presidential election, NBC News must be narrowing in on its selection of a permanent Meet The Press host. Various names have floated about, from David Gregory to staff favorite Gwen Ifill. But there's another staffer "trickling down" as a likely possibility. He's Hardball's David Shuster, who's spent the past two weeks filling in for Chris Matthews, who's battling a bout of pneumonia. Ratings have been quite healthy, even after taking the Olympics lead-in into account, we're told, while on-lookers like his aggressive interview style. The only problem? CONTINUED »
Yesterday, NBC News political director Chuck Todd anchored an hour of daytime programming for MSNBC. He also told colleagues he's going to anchor an hour a day during the network's convention coverage, newsroom sources tell us.
Know what Todd's colleague David Gregory said to his colleagues? That Todd is "gunning" to be the host of Meet The Press — a gig Gregory is said to desperately want for himself.
Too bad our informants say common opinion under the 30 Rock umbrella reveals few staffers want either of 'em to get the gig.
The candidate everybody is pining for? A certain presidential debate moderator. CONTINUED »
To any Jossip reader, the Observer's story today that David Gregory — once the great hope of NBC News — has turned from commodity to casualty will be of little surprise. We've pointed out Gregory's less than stellar ratings. His riffs with colleagues. The fact that we'd rather watch QVC than Race to the White House (a show title, though catchy, even Tom Brokaw has trouble remembering).
But as Race begins to wind up its short-lived run, with November's crowning of a president acting as the show's by-definition ending, it's time to figure out what to do with Gregory. Should he keep his MSNBC show, which is less a place to break news than it is an analyst rehashing of talking points by NBC News stars? Should he return to the White House press pit, where he starred in many a YouTube video battling with press secretaries? Or should he be elevated to something like Meet The Press moderator, where he'll be charged with carrying on Tim Russert's legacy and shine a light on politician's double-speak? Might he be invited to take over Katie Couric's chair? Or Brit Hume's? CONTINUED »
Broadcasting from the hills of Wyoming yesterday, Meet The Press, the third since Tim Russert died and Tom Brokaw's first since being named permanent interim moderator, was, by all accounts, nothing like the broadcast viewers remembered. Brokaw anchored a (taped) segment from the Western Governors’ Association. Invited guests, usually booked to at least spur some argument, included Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado and Gov. Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming, who "me too'd" each other. The only modicum of debate? With NBC's own political director Chuck Todd. CONTINUED »
Accused: Maggie Gallagher, a former National Review editor and author of The Case for Marriage: Why Married People are Happier, Healthier, and Better Off Financially
Crime: Arguing, with more conviction than a "just j/k'ing!" sort of way, that NBC News should seriously consider Stephen Colbert for the Meet The Press moderator job. And spending more than 600 words doing so. [Yahoo]
FoxNews.com gossip Roger Friedman launched a seemingly personal battle against TV Guide today when he didn't see Tim Russert's face peering at him from its cover this week. While some folks think the media have gone overboard with Russert tributes, Friedman expected the magazine covering Russert's industry would put him on the cover. And when he didn't spot the mug of the deceased? He blamed new owner Macrovision, which is trying to sell off the print title while hanging on to its dot-com.
Except as so often happens with Friedman, his argument holds little water. CONTINUED »
Though Brian Williams filled in the moderator's chair on Meet The Press today, Mr. Tom Brokaw will take over through the election as we suspected. It might've been easy to think Williams was actually quite apt for the gig: He followed Russert's traditional line of questioning that brought up past statements and offered politicos the chance to contradict themselves or reaffirm their past; Joe Biden was today's example, asked about the vice presidency. (He had said before that under no circumstances would he want to be VP. He said that again today. Then he qualified that statement by saying he doesn't want to be VP because Barack Obama just wouldn't ask him — if if Obama did ask, he'd have no choice but to say yes.)
But that's not what Jeff Zucker and Steve Capus had in mind. The official announcement came this morning, and Williams telling viewers at the end of today's broadcast, with 30 Rock revealing Brokaw will take over MTP beginning next Sunday and last through the November election. CONTINUED »
On last night's Countdown, Keith Olbermann preemptively named Page Six's Paula Froelich his "Worst Person in the World" after finding out she was working on an item, for today's column (here's the item), that accused colleague Chris Matthews of gunning for the Meet The Press gig at Tim Russert's funeral. Matthews denied the charge on the record, and said the "agent type" he was speaking to was real-estate developer Bob Monahan, and that their conversation wasn't about his plot to secure the gig, but about an upcoming speech Matthews was going to give to a group of mayors. As for Olbermann, P6 quotes a source saying he's threatened to quit if he isn't named to the MTP gig; Olbermann also denies the claim. And it better be true, because everybody we've spoke with says Olbermann and Matthews are about the last people NBC News president Steve Capus plans to install on the Sunday morning talker. Russert himself took a liking to political director Chuck Todd, though it's also unusual that Russert is said to have bandied about Todd's name as his pick of successor, since Russert, while still alive, had no plans of giving up the show anytime soon.
For this week, at least. No decisions about a permanent replacement have been made. NBC News President Steve Capus says they're making decisions week-by-week. Meanwhile, Russert's Saturday show will be replaced with a mix of documentary programming and live news.
Nonsensical media "critic" Jon Friedman weighs in with his latest bit of not-though-out piece of advice, this time for NBC News: Do not hire Tom Brokaw to fill in for Tim Russert. Doing so would signal a vote of "no-confidence" in Meet The Press and his future, goes Friedman's flawed thinking. "As terrible as [Russert's] passing is, it affords NBC the chance to put a new stamp on Meet the Press, the most popular of the many Sunday-morning news shows examining politics, and the opportunity to showcase one of its stars. [...] There will no doubt be a clamor for NBC to bring Brokaw out of retirement. His presence can comfort viewers in mourning and provide continuity during a difficult period. That's one way of looking at the decision. But these factors are outweighed by the need to blaze a dynamic, post-Russert path."
Then there's one other way of looking at the decision: CONTINUED »
Because he considered himself too ugly. Then Michael Gartner, then the president of NBC News and the man who hired him, printed up sweatshirts that said "Tim Russert, Not just a pretty face." The rest is ratings history. [USAT]
NBC News is doing the respectable thing and not commenting, publicly, about their plans in naming a successor to Tim Russert, whose death on Friday at the network's Washington studios has left them without a Meet The Press anchor, or a D.C. bureau chief. As a show of respect for Russert's family and his colleagues, 30 Rock is holding off on telling anyone what they plan to do come this Sunday.
While NBC News chief Steve Capus and NBC head Jeff Zucker wisely selected Tom Brokaw to moderate yesterday's MTP Russert tribute, with a line-up of the guests the late anchor would've booked himself, there's nothing firmed up for the weeks ahead, claims NBC.
None of that means media's chattering classes aren't placing over-unders on who's going to fill Russert's slot, at MTP or leading the network's Washington unit. There's a list of usual suspects, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. So who's the most likely to take the very big reins?
Let's take a look. CONTINUED »
As tasteless as it may seem, the rush to find out what to do with Sunday's Meet The Press, following Tim Russert's sudden death at NBC's D.C. studio this afternoon, is on. We're told Steve Capus & Co. are already plotting out what to do, and it's likely Andrea Mitchell will be asked to chair the show, though David Gregory is also a candidate. It's very possible Sunday's show will be used, at least in part, to air a video memorial of Russert, with Tom Brokaw being asked to join the panel, along with Chuck Todd, and others. It's unclear what the role of Brian Williams, who is anchoring NBC Nightly News from Afghanistan, will be, says, a source.
With Tucker Carlson out as an anchor at MSNBC, humor writer Peter Smith has a suggestion for a new job: The hosting gig on Meet The Press. Nevermind that Tim Russert currently holds that job, and has no intention of leaving. So why give Tucker the prestigious gig? "Carlson is younger, better-looking and faster-talking." Reasonable. [HuffPo]
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