Who Should Host Meet The Press?

Tim Russert wore many hats at NBC, but hosting Meet the Press on Sunday mornings was his show for 18 years. So, naturally, people are starting to wonder who will take over a show that's been on for as long as most of us can remember.

Tom Brokaw will fill in for the immediate period, which seems appropriate for his anchor emeritus status. But who will fill the job on a permanent basis? It's actually kind of a cheery guessing game to be able to play after the jolting loss of Mr. Russert. I would imagine that he would see it as timely as well, in an election year with historic overtones.

So, first, what's the criteria? That would be a logical place to start. But deciding who you want to watch on tv can be a little like dating or house shopping. You want to look at everything until you fall in love.

Meet the Press is a prestige property. And NBC will want to keep it that way. Current NBC newsies will have the inside track, no doubt. But an outside hire is always possible. I would expect that NBC will also not want to give up on any currently successful shows, like Matthews or Olberman, by moving the name host to MTP.

But who do we viewers want? Some basic guidelines would be:

1. The new host should be someone who's experienced, cut their teeth, made their bones, earned their stripes. Meet the Press is not middle management. It is a destination job.

2. It is also political job, so we want a political junkie. This reduces the pool to experienced political reproters.

3. We want it lively. Politics is fun for a lot of people and so should be the show. So we want a real personality, like Russert, who fills the room with vitality.

4. We want someone worldly. It's time to go global in our political gossiping. We are looking at the future, and the future continues to show a shrinking world. We want someone with a global perspective.

5. Since it's called "Meet The Press" the host should be someone who can legitimately claim to represent "the press."

Having said that, let's consider some candid dates.


1. The Obvious Dandydates

Brian Williams - NBC nightly anchor may want the hour for more reflective reporting, but may not want the 7 day work week.

Andrea Mitchell - NBC political veteran seems like a natural fit. Putting in a woman would also be a timely move.

Soon to be jobless NBC alumn has lots of inside friends, but CBS anchor gig proved she's not a real reporter and no politico.

Chris Matthews - a real political addict and entertainer, but doesn't pull in the ratings and some question the quality of his credentials. Also already has 2 tv shows.

George Stephsomething - Booooring. Current host of ABC's This Week Without David Brinkley probably not going anywhere.

David Gregory - Tall, blonde, and handsome David is currently hosting MSNBC's Race For The Whitehouse, scheduled to sunset just as Brokaw's temporary tenure expires. Coincidence?

Bob Scheiffer - Everybody loves CBS's senior anchor Bob Scheiffer, but he's probably heading for retirement.

2. Bold Moves We Would Like To See

Christiane Amanpour - This would be exciting! Amanpour is with CNN and has also done work with CBS' 60 Minutes. She's international, and could expand MTP's scope.

Gwen Ifill - PBS moderator of Washington Week in Review as well as Jim Leher's sidekick on NewsHour. She would be solid but is a little low key. She has the gravitas, though.

3. Longshots

Keith Olberman - Too fiery and too liberal.

Norah O'Donnell - Solid political reporter could do the job, but may be viewed as too young.

Joe Scarborough - Former Congressman and UF Law alum has established an evenhanded political approach that works well. Not really a reporter though, so may not fit as the representative of the press the show seeks.

Chuck Todd - Interesting Russert protege, political junkie, official MSNBC number cruncher, has good insight, and also has weird fan following. I think he's too young though.

Alex Witt - MCNBC Anchor also plays in band called Mrs. Robinson, and let me just say, well, I'm down with that. Not a real politico, though, so I don't think she's in the running.

4. Up & Comers - Maybe Next Time

David Shuster - Too young, needs to learn to tone down the opinions a bit, but he'll be doing something good by this time next year. That "pimping" thing only made him cooler.

Michelle D. Bernard - Smart cookie will show up more and more if the MSNBC has any sense.

Rachel Maddow - Awesome Rachel is strong politico with great insight, charm, and the voice and presence to control a political debate. She's be a great choice, but may be a bit too . . . um, gay, for some at MSNBC. She should get her own show though. I'd watch it.

Ann Curry - A surprise surge in 51 year old Ann's career as she goes from Today Show's third banana to appearing as substitute anchor on NBC Nightly News. Back to her early reporter roots. Middle aged women and men all wonder why she still loooks 30. Not really politically oriented, though, so a longshot.

5. No Chance

Stone Phillips - It used to be good to be Stone Phillips.

Dan Rather - Hah hah! Just kidding.

Matt Lauer - A great interviewer, Matt is capable of more heavy lifting than the Today Show. Not an real MTP cnadidate, but I'd like to see him do more politics. Another suspiciously young looking 50-something.

Harry Smith - Great reporter and interviewer. A CBS player so not a real candidate.

Edith "E.D." Hill - Fox mouthpiece famous for not knowing what a "pound" is and calling it a "terrorist fist jab." Her show was cancelled 4 days later.

Tucker Carlson - Works at MSNBC with no specific job that I can identify. Show got cancelled. A conservative shill, but insightful. Sometimes obnoxious, but it's hard not to like him a little. No chance here though.

A Sad Farewell to Katie

Tis a sad song today, my friends. But we must honor tradition and sing it with heart.

Na na na na,

Na na na na,

Hey hey hey,

Good bye.

Time's Up For America's Sweetheart

See you soon, Katie!

Looks like Katie's out. The Wall Street Journal says so. And that's Rupert Murdoch a/k/a God talking there, so you know it must be true. I'll have to say that my wife and her snakey sister both predicted that Katie was a bad pick before she even was picked.

But first, a confession. I actually only watched Katie on the CBS Evening News twice. So having supporters like me doesn't really help her much. Also, I'm forced to say that the nights I watched . . . it wasn't good. And, with Katie in the center chair, the ratings reached depths even lower than those that Daffy Dan Rather had managed to reach. Just fyi, Katie pull in about 5MM viewers a night, while Brian Williams at NBC is at 8.3MM and crybaby Charlie Gibson at ABC gets an impressive 8MM. Ouch.

Side Note for Math and English nerds: "M" is the Roman Numeral for one thousand. Fans of Superbowls and movie copyright dates know this. So "MM" designates a million. I mention this because I've noticed that some of our tv reporter people are only using a single M, especially on their "crawlers," to denote a million.

The good news for Katie, and those of us who like to live vicariously through celebrities, is that apparently she has a contract through 2011 for a cool $15MM a year. Yeah, baby! Unsolicited fan advice: Make them pay you the whole thing!

Well, that bit of money news certainly helped to accelerate my grieving period for Katie, which is now over. So, looking to the future:

The Search Begins:

Who Will Inherit The Mantle Of Cronkite?

I'm imagining an unusual Saturday morning meeting taking place in an ostentatiously huge, corner office at the top of the Black Rock building overlooking Central Park. Stanley Bing, Les Moonves, and several other well fed white men, dressed in expensive business casual jackets and loafers, are smoking cigars and sipping bloody marys, and occasionally picking over a table of danish and bagels. Sumner Redstone is supposed to be on the speaker phone, but he's late. On purpose. Nobody's happy. Especially Les, whose broken promises Katie's people are already blaming for the whole fiasco.

But that's just my imagination. Who is likely to replace Katie? Here are my two off-the-cuff picks.

Harry Smith - The most likely pick. A 22 year CBS veteran, Harry is a great interviewer, has a calm and pleasant,but strong, presence, and a great baritone delivery. Knows his way around Black Rock, a strength that Katie notably lacked. At age 57, still young enough for a decently long tenure. And I like watching him. I'd be surprised if he's not at least the interim anchor for a test period, perhaps sharing time with our favorite oldster Bob Scheiffer.

Harry Smith

My second bet is Elizabeth Vargas. She's already been the primetime anchor at ABC, first as co-chair with Bob Woodruff. When Bob was seriously injured while covering the Iraq War, she was the sole anchor for a while. I was very disappointed that she didn't take over permanently, saying she wanted to devote more time to her impending Mom-hood. But now the word is that she was pushed aside after Charlie Gibson threw a hissy fit and threatened to quit if he didn't get the job.

What would make sense is for CBS to try to get Elizabeth under contract and groom her under Harry, like Tom Brokaw did for Brian Williams at NBC.

Elizabeth Vargas

Daffy Dan Rather becomes Crazy Old Cranky Dan Rather

Smilin' Dan Rather

Dan Rather, after 21 years of keeping CBS News solidly last in the news ratings, is suing his old employer. Why CBS kept him on for so long is a mystery, only deepened by this ungrateful lawsuit.

Apparently, the reason Dan is angry is that he feels that CBS didn't do a good enough job whitewashing Dan's responsibility for that whole fake document mess in a story that CBS, specifically Dan, broadcast about President Bush's somewhat undistinguished military service. The documents were fake. Everybody says so. The consensus is also that a good reporter would have known better.

Dan, who apparently is still claiming the story is true, avoided taking the fall for this Big Screw-up ("BS" in journalism circles) at the time. Three other CBS employees got fired. But Teflon Dan kept the big anchor chair. Though, as time went by, the incident was not forgotten, and more and more people seemed to openly blame him for the fiasco, as well as his failure to take responsibility.

Jim Lehrer once said, many years ago, "I'm responsible for everything that comes out of my mouth." That is what I expect to hear from a news anchor. But, with the exception of Mr. Lehrer, those days are over. Dan apparently feels exactly the opposite.



Back in 1981 when Walter Conkite was retiring, there was a big discussion on whether Dan Rather or Roger Mudd would succeed him as CBS News Anchor. Mudd seemed more substantial, but Rather was more exciting, having done lots of Viet Nam coverage and challenging President Nixon at press conferences. Rather won and Mudd, and CBS, lost.