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.
