Meet the Press to Tap David Gregory for Hosting Duties

[ksimons]

Source: Huffington Post, Observer & Politico

Danny Shea of the Huffington Post is reporting that David Gregory has been chosen as the next moderator of NBC News' Meet the Press. The short list seems to have included Chuck Todd, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews, Gwen Ifill, Katie Couric, and John King among many others. The Observer reports that Richard Liebner, Gregory's agent, wouldn't confirm or deny the HuffPost report.

Huffington Post Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/01/david-gregory-to-moderate_n_147540.html

Politico Link:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1208/Report_Gregory_is_next_MTP_host_.html

Observer Link below:

Read more: http://www.observer.com/2008/media/david-gregory-replacing-tim-russert-moderator-meet-press

[FrenchieCat]

1. Katie Couric would have been soooo much better!

as would have Gwen Ifill.

David Gregory must have kissed beaucoup butts for the job, considering that he's terrible!

After Obama's appearance next Sunday, I won't be watching this show anymore. They have just cheapened it beyond redemption.

[stlsaxman]

5. Well David Gregory will probably do less damage to MTP than Ifil did to Wash Week in Review...

but then again- Gregory isn't filling the shoes of The Great Paul Duke.

Ifil reduced WWIR to a stupid little coffee clutch/ gossip fest. I call the show "Washington Whores On Parade". She has the nerve to call herself a journalist.

[rpannier]

7. A cup half-filled with water would be better than david gregory

But, it is too much to ask that they hire a real reporter who will ask real probing questions.

[GOPNotForMe]

2. Gross. I am not impressed. nt

[MindMatter]

13. As in Terry Gross? Now that would be awesome

Real questions for a change.

Gregory follows the great tradition of that program to challenge nobody, say nothing offensive, and sell lots of ads to GE and Smith Barney. The longest running waste of time on television. Not even worth the time it took to type this -- and I am a fast typist.

[alfredo]

28. She would have to be in another room like all her interviews.

[MindMatter]

40. Best. Interviewer. Ever.

[alfredo]

42. Yeah, she's pretty good.

[ksimons]

3. I personally liked Andrea Mitchell, as far as being agressive and doing her homework

Chuck Todd is smart, not sure if he is aggressive enough, Chris Matthews I enjoy on his show now, and Katie Couric is probably too much settled at CBS. I hate Tom Brokaw at it so much, ANYTHING would be an improvement. He's a lameduck in the MTP world and a bad one.

It would have been pretty amazing if they had asked Fox's Chris Wallace actually.

[vixengrl]

17. You know, for a FOX guy who I think of as sometimes partisan--

Chris Wallace nonetheless knows how to elicit good interview from a guest. I see Gregory as kind of a blindered Washington twit, actually, and I agree that Couric and Matthews would want to probably stay where they are, but MTP would be an opportunity for Chris Wallace to really show to a bigger audience what he can do. FOX as an outfit is holding him back. Brokaw, I hate to say it, just doesn't strike me as being....

Smart? Just not actually clever enough to do more than ask a vapid question and then bask in the answer he got, and return to a theme? A real shame for someone with his resume. I think he's part of a school of intentionally "endumbened" journalists, of which Gregory seems a recent breed, who see non-controversiality and blather as the *right* way to do unbiased journalism. But it's crap. Discussing an issue isn't so much about presenting sides as presenting facts, and if an interviewee isn't bringing facts but a raft of b.s., they should be called out. And as Stephen Colbert has pointed out, sometimes the facts have a notorious liberal bias :).

I get that they wanted to go for someone who seems non-partisan and bland. But wow. The man is made of tweed. He bleeds lukewarm tapwater. And he has the instincts of an aquarium-raised blinded kitten, and the sense of outrage of a voodoo doll soaked in novacaine. WIth the charisma of slightly-off milk.

(Since I think Jon Stewart, Colbert, or Tina Fey, as comedians first and politically-interested people second, might do better than a lot of actually working journalists, is why my opinion is probably meaningless. But I have a theory that all good comedy has truth as a basis. This is why Dennis Miller is no longer especially funny as he was when lampooning GHWB and intro-ing A Whitney Brown on SNL. Stewart, Colbert, and Fey are funny because they find that truth, just like Hicks, Carlin, and Pryor were. I believe that comedians would make excellent actual journalists because they can put aside their own dignity and just get at the truth, gravitas be damned. We need more writers and even television folk in the Bierce, Twain, Mencken vein. Less inhibition, more opinion and revelation. Olbermann in MTP would terrify people away from ever trying to use the venerable Sunday show as a forum for political b.s., as Cheney so much as admitted he used old Tim Russert for. And maybe that would be fine. Really.)

[ksimons]

22. wow - your analogies go to the heart of it - and then some

a voodoo doll soaked in novacaine lol

[Stand and Fight]

4. Guest I won't be watching MTP anymore.

David Gregory occasionally impressed me when he was a member of the WHPC, but he's an intellectual lightweight and that's no good. If I'm going to "meet the press" I'm not going to go with a piss-ant.

[mchill]

6. Not Rachel - BAD, probably piss of the Right too, therefore they'll say it is a perfect choice -ugh.

[Snarkoleptic]

8. I wonder how much time will be devoted each week to the

Karl and David dance party.

[Libertas1776]

9. RIP

Meet the Press

(1947-2009) We hardly knew ye.

Taking its time slot "The Crappy Generic News Hour with Bland Quasi News Guy,...I Guess?"
Boy I can't wait to watch CGNHBQNG on NBC.

[ksimons]

10. I'm sure George at This Week is giving a huge sigh of relief - no competition now

I have been enjoying This Week so much more than the Brokaw non-news MTP shows lately, and this will be the deal killer. Even Fox has had some more insightful shows than MTP without Russert. He's probably spinning.

[sniffa]

11. And people thought Brokaw was bad

[FrenchieCat]

12. This will make Brokaw look like Edward Morrow!

Television is becoming so lowbrow.

I'm taking MTP off my DVR schedule.....

I'm watching next Sunday only because Obama is on.

Yuk...I hate that David lightweight Gregory will be asking the questions.
yuk, and Double Yuk! :puke:

Plus they "said" that Couric and Ifill and some others that actually work for other networks and have some stature were being considered....but I think that was a lie. I think they were always going to be pick an NBC employee, and this was just cover to make it appear that he beat the Big Dogs. I saw him on some of the NBC shows lately...and could smell that they were giving him exposure to make him seem like someone of more importance. These media people think that they are slick by half, when they are not even one little bit.

[nyc 4 Biden]

14. Nooooooo!!!!!!

MTP jumps the shark!

ETA: For the record, Chuck Todd would have been an equally horrid choice.

[vanboggie]

30. Agree w/you on Todd

I thought Chuckie was going to break out in sobs on election night. I can't stand that guy. He belongs on Faux.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

33. ... oooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

[Kelvin Mace]

15. And the name of the program will change from "Meet the Press" to

"Tool Time"

[quiet.american]

19. Good one. Or, "Meet the Bush Whore." nt

[Kool Kitty]

29. Or, "Meet the Presstitute".

[Submariner]

16. I could barely stomach Timmeh , but there couldn't be a worse choice than Gregory

Give Rachel Maddow the show.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

18. *shrug* I like him.

He's tactfully assertive. Actually, from what I've seen, he's quite aggressive. Isn't that the "perfect" American political interrogator: tactfully aggressive?

:shrug:

[global1]

20. Good - I'll Have Sunday Mornings To Myself Again - Now That I Won't .......

be watching MTP. No way I'll watch Gregory. Bad choice.

[JaneQPublic]

24. Exactly what I was thinking: an extra hour of free time on Sunday morning.

[villager]

21. A "short" list included all those names, plus "many others?"

Does anyone even bother to edit copy anymore?

As for Gregory: MTP now becomes another completely dismissable program.

[ksimons]

23. I wonder if Chris Wallace lobbied at all for the position

he was definitely on-target in shows leading up to the election, and was pretty good at jumping on guests of both parties - something I loved about Russert.

[JaneQPublic]

25. I was hoping Dan Abrams would get the job.

His lawyer background would've made him a likely successor to Russet.

Gregory simply isn't a very good interviewer. Anyone who has seen him on "Race for the Whitehose" and "1600" knows that.

[JNelson6563]

34. Abrams would've been a very good choice!

*sigh*

[nyc 4 Biden]

35. Abrams would have been good.

Same goes for David Shuster.

[antimatter98]

26. Gregory is a light weight intellect. His hosting will be a side show. n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

27. you've got to be freakin kidding!!!

[Bravo Zulu]

31. Maybe it's for the best, since I've been watching too much TV, lately...

This is most likely the end of MTP, it will never survive with Gregory.

[Vinca]

32. The name of the show should be changed to "Meet the GOP." nt

[AngryOldDem]

36. Oh, HELL no.

Well, at least there are some pretty good infomercials still running at that time on Sunday.

The MTP franchise sinks even lower....

[getting old in mke]

37. What to say that is nice and make my mom happy...

Uh...he has a pleasant, goofy smile?

[gauguin57]

38. Well, I guess I won't be watching Meet the Press anymore

I hate Gregory. He was my LAST choice for that spot. I find him obnoxious and arrogant.

Gwen Ifil or Chuck Todd would have been so much better.

It'll be Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood for me!

[florida08]

39. yuck

Have watched "1600" and it's a snoozer. Dan Abrams would have been good or maybe Keith Olbermann. Couric has gotten better and handled the Palin/McCain interview darn well. Ifill did a great job in the VP debates. Why are earth did they settle for Gregory when they had available to them much more qualified and interesting hosts? Normally they want ratings to go up.:shrug:

[NoodleyAppendage]

41. You guys aren't being fair. Gregory was a pain in the ass to Bush the first 4-years.

I distinctly remember Gregory, as a White House reporter, was constantly up in Bush's face and even upstaged him a few times (e.g., remember the time when Gregory responded in French to a question, which pissed Bush off).

I'm not certain what has happened with Gregory lately, but if we could get the old Gregory (the White House reporter Gregory), then Meet the Press would at least be better than where it is now with Brokaw.

J

[SoCalDemGrrl]

43. Terrible choice in my opinion. Chuck Todd would be more objective and

I understand he was in consideration.

I just think David Gregory is more of the same and we needed a

CHANGE!!

NBC/Universal is a rudderless ship - they need to dump Ben Silverman and Zucker ASAP!!