What’s Up With “Meet The Press”?

Publisher of The Bronx Chronicle  Sal Conforto and I agree that David Gregory, host of Meet The Press, one of the longest running television shows in history, is terrible at the job and shows existence is in jeopardy.  I know I used to watch Meet The Press every week and now I can’t because I just don’t think David Gregory interviews well and I don’t like his personality.  As The Washington Post reports,

Photo c/o Salon.com

“The main problem: The great-granddaddy of Sunday-morning Beltway blabfests isn’t just not No. 1. It’s No. 3 and in the midst of a three-year slide. During the first three months of this year, the NBC program finished behind perennial rivals “Face the Nation” on CBS and “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” on ABC, despite being helped by two weeks of Winter Olympics hoopla. In the final quarter of last year, viewing among people ages 25 to 54, the preferred group for TV news advertisers, fell to its lowest level ever.”  Read more here.

However, they go on to talk about NBC hiring “a brand consultant” or, is a a “psychological consultant”?   Some reports suggest that NBC thinks “David Gregory is crazy” and I think that’s just ridiculous.  The reality is not that many people watch television on a Sunday morning, many younger content consumers get news on the internet and want content that isn’t boring, and Bob Shaefer (CBS) and George Stephanolpolous (ABC) are just more likable fellas.  They just are, its not that complicated.  Personally, when Tim Russert died, I felt the only person who could do the show justice was Gwen Ifill.  But that was never going to happen.  So, NBC: it’s not complicated.  It’s not about fixing the show.  It’s about a show that is about interviewing and no one likes the interviewer.   That’s just my take.

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