Chuck Todd To Replace David Gregory On Meet The Press

Meet The Press

After months of declining ratings and rumors that David Gregory’s tenure as host of Meet The Press would be coming to an end, CNN is reporting that NBC will soon announce that Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd will be replacing Gregory as host:

NBC will name Chuck Todd the new host of “Meet the Press” as soon as Thursday afternoon, according to people with direct knowledge of the network’s plans.

The sources confirmed widespread speculation that David Gregory, who moderated the show for the past six years, will be replaced by Todd, and is expected to leave NBC.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the record. One said that the transition will be swift — so swift that Gregory will not even host “Meet the Press” this weekend.

An NBC spokeswoman declined to comment.

Todd is currently the NBC News political director and the host “Daily Rundown,” which airs at 9 a.m. ET on NBC’s cable news channel MSNBC.

An announcement about Todd’s promotion would end an ugly period of public conjecture about Gregory’s fate, made worse by the network’s tepid statement of support for him earlier this summer.

Mike Allen of Politico reported earlier this week that Todd was the “likely successor” to Gregory and that the change was “expected to be announced in coming weeks.” That may have accelerated the network’s timetable.

If not Thursday, the change will be announced no later than Friday, the sources said.

Quite honestly, I had thought that Todd would be the best replacement for Tim Russert when the veteran reporter died suddenly in 2012, but NBC decided to go in another direction. While I can’t say that I’m a regular viewer of any of the Sunday shows, I have liked Todd’s work in the past and he seems like he’d be the perfect fit for the hosting job heading into a 2016 campaign season that is likely to start as soon as the 2014 midterms end.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Pinky says:

    I guess they couldn’t hire Tom Harkin himself.

  2. Tillman says:

    He can ask “hard-hitting” questions I suppose. He’s better at it than Gregory anyway.

    I hate the fact that we’re replacing two-first-names with another two-first-names.

  3. Ron Beasley says:

    Gregory was unenthusiastic and boring. He is also such a belt way insider who could not ask the tough questions. They should have seen this years ago and replaced him a couple of months after he started. Looks like Gregory cut his vacation short for nothing.

  4. al-Ameda says:

    @Pinky:

    I guess they couldn’t hire Tom Harkin himself.

    You see Chuck Todd and Tom Harkin as ideological soul brothers?
    Apart from the fact that they’re both male, I don’t see similarities

  5. C. Clavin says:

    Rearranging deck chairs on a sinking boat.
    John McCain will still be on every Sunday to enthusiastically endorse bombing someone or building a fence somewhere.

  6. Andre Kenji says:

    @al-Ameda: Todd worked with Harkin, I think, that´s what the meant. But, them, that would mean that Diane Sawyer could be exchangeable with Richard Nixon…

  7. J-Dub says:

    keeping the chair warm until Luke Russert is ready.

  8. You are asking and I am telling. The problem with MSNBC is they don’t recognize class and fair reporting when they see it. The morning Joe show is comprised of a loudmouth opinionated shouting co-host who doesn’t let anyone speak unless they agree with him. Then there is his co-host who acts like a two year old. Her cuteness is obnoxious. Then they stack the show with the rest of their no mind regulars who make stupid jokes about important issues and laugh constantly like fools. They usually have a majority of republicans and 1 Democrat
    as a guest who they all interrogate like they were on the witness stand
    And and treat them with no respect. They tear down the president, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Bill
    Clinton like they were their judges and juries and what it does is make our country look bad be
    Cause the whole world hears it. Then you have Andrea Mitchell who thinks she knows it all and treats the people she questions with utter disrespect, as if she were their superiors. She also acts like a spoiled child and shows her jealousy of Hillary Clinton. If you want high ratings you need people of integrity and intelligence to represent our country. You replaced Ann Curry , a woman who is so highly respected, so intelligent and with such a gentle demeanor, and a fair reporter , with Savannah, now their’s a woman with no class and she and Matt lower
    Are
    A nauseating pair. Now you
    Are putting Chuck Todd on meet the press. Talk about errogant, opinionated, partisan, and his manner of his hesitating his words and closing his eyes is a joke. If you think your ratings are bad now, soon you will have no rating. Wake up, bring back the old time good news hosts who report the news and let their guests who know what they are talking about have a fair and honest discussion. YOU ASKED AND I AM TELLING. I FOR ONE WILL NOT WATCH MEET THE PRESS ANYMORE.

  9. Neil Hudelson says:

    @Barbara L BUCK:

    YOU ASKED AND I AM TELLING. I FOR ONE WILL NOT WATCH MEET THE PRESS ANYMORE.

    No, no one asked. But thank you for yelling. I never know if I should take someone’s comments seriously unless they yell them. Then I know they are serious.

  10. Neil Hudelson says:

    Caught in moderation for some reason.

  11. rudderpedals says:

    Did anyone catch Mrs. Greenspan’s show today?

  12. al-Ameda says:

    @Barbara L BUCK:

    Are putting Chuck Todd on meet the press. Talk about errogant, opinionated, partisan, and his manner of his hesitating his words and closing his eyes is a joke.

    In the perpetually-victimized world of the Conservative Right, everyone in the media (that is, the “Mainstream Media”) is partisan and no one speaks an honest intelligent opinion that ranges outside the narrow perspective of their partisan ideology.

    I believe that Chuck Todd is an intelligent political observer, and that he will do as good a job on MTP as Tim Russert, Davis Gregory or anyone else can do.

  13. PAUL HOOSON says:

    It was clear that NBC planned to replace Gregory for sometime, even holding some unprecendented reported ratings crisis meetings with him. He did a good enough job in my opinion, but maybe Todd can be more hardhitting and newsworthy. I suppose, if I were NBC, anything that rescues the show is worth a try. – But, I think the audience just didn’t warm to Gregory’s bland “matter of fact” personal style. – You’ll never replace Tim Russert – He was the best! A legend! One of my favorite Irishmen ever! He had great gimmicks like those little chalkboards…

  14. steve q says:

    Who cares who hosts one of the terrible Sunday shows? They’re worthless. Anything’s a better use of your time.