by Frank Holmes, reporter
The longest-running show in TV history may be about to run its final lap.
Low ratings—and an unpopular host—may have doomed the once-revered news program and its anchor to cancellation.
“Meet the Press” debuted in 1947, a year before Milton Berle hit the airwaves and two years after Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. At the time, it invited America’s top journalists to grill politicians on the most pressing issues of the day.
Now, viewers are pressing their remote controls to watch something else—and host Chuck Todd may be headed for the unemployment line.
Todd has been skating on thin ice for a long time.
MSNBC demoted Todd twice in the span of a few months. First, it moved the weekday version of the program, “MTP Daily,” from 5 p.m. to 1 p.m., a ratings graveyard.
Then in May, network executives yanked MTP off MSNBC completely, relegating it to its streaming platform, NBC News NOW. The show, newly renamed “Meet the Press NOW,” began streaming there on June 6.
The network tried to spin the move from the heavily viewed 5 p.m. time slot to a virtually unknown, online-exclusive platform as Todd’s idea.
“Since our launch, we’ve been committed to delivering the best of NBC News’ journalism, free, to streaming audiences everywhere,” NBC News President Noah Oppenheim told the website Radar. Oppenheim said it was none other than Chuck Todd who saw “the massive potential of streaming and bringing Meet the Press’s daily franchise to NBC News NOW reinforces the platform’s status as the destination for news.”
NBC NOW may be the “destination” for news, but it seems that viewers got lost on the information superhighway.
The show’s ratings have fallen 21 percent since last year; more than one in five viewers is no longer watching.
The exile from broadcast TV came with another major shake-up for the show: Reporters say NBC fired MTP’s executive producer, John Reiss and NBC say he just wanted to move on to “other opportunities” with the network.
Either way, he’s been replaced by David Gelles, “a long-time CNN producer who helped develop the now-defunct CNN+ streamer, was parachuted in to help fix the sinking show,” reported The Daily Beast’s Confider.
That’s right: NBC brought in the man who created CNN+ to fix its streaming platform’s ratings. CNN set aside $300 million for its much-hyped CNN+, which went off the air in 24 days.
Gelles seems to think Todd should go the way of CNN+
“Gelles is considering replacing Todd, who has hosted the show since 2014, multiple sources told (The Daily Beast’s) Confider,” reported The Daily Caller. “The move would force Todd out of his two-year contract extension at the network.” Gelles is “reportedly planning to hire NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker to take over as the host and have increasingly notable television appearances during the midterm elections.”
Todd, who is 50, would be out of the show, which he’s hosted since 2014.
Recent trends don’t look good for him. Left-wingers heavily criticized Todd for daring to have Republicans on his panels. More recently, Trevor Noah humiliated him at the most recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “How are you doing?” he asked. “I’d ask a follow-up, but I know you don’t know what those are.”
Other networks have also signaled they’re open to canceling long-running programs that no longer find their audience. CNN just pulled the plug on Brian Stelter’s “Reliable Sources,” the longest-running show on the network.
Age and a prestigious name no longer save failing hosts like Stelter and Todd.
If Chuck Todd is really out at NBC, his future doesn’t look so bright.
“Perhaps Todd would stay with NBC in a diminished role, anchoring special events throughout the year,” wrote Bobby Burack at Outkick.com. “Look for Kristen Welker to replace Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” if/when NBC hooks him anew.”
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”