NBC Wanted Jon Stewart for "Meet the Press"

[wyldwolf]

Before choosing Chuck Todd, NBC News president Deborah Turness held negotiations with Jon Stewart about hosting "Meet the Press," three senior television sources tell New York magazine.

One source explained that NBC was prepared to offer Stewart virtually "anything" to bring him over.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2014/10/08/nbc_wanted_jon_stewart_for_meet_the_press.html

If only...

[spanone]

1. with todd's numbers tumbling, perhaps they will go after jon again???

[tanyev]

2. *gasp* That would have been so awesome.

But I would have really missed The Daily Show. And the usual cast of characters on MTP wouldn't have known what to do when faced with intelligent, thoughtful questioning.

[Spazito]

3. Jon Stewart would be excellent for the show but...

he would be somewhat controlled and I hope he stays where he is and continues pointing out the stupidity and gross hypocrisy of the repubs and takes on the Dems when warranted as well.

[Politicalboi]

4. I had heard that Jon Stewart was leaving Comedy Central in 2015

I have no idea if that's still going to happen. Maybe he will be on MTP one of these days.

[wheniwasincongress]

26. Interesting

He is signed until mid-2015, by then he's done his show for 16 years. I wonder if he will take the MTP seat then...

[Bjorn Against]

29. I looked it up and his contract expires in 2015

I did not find anything that says he is leaving. I am sure Comedy Central will offer him a new contract as he has brought good ratings to them. If he wants to stay he will but it is certainly possible that he might have something else in mind.

[Helen Borg]

49. Perhaps he'll run for political office ? :)

[Hoyt]

5. That would make it a prime time show.

[MohRokTah]

6. They know what it is that Jon Stewart does, right?

They know that Jon's show is a comedy show, right?

Or were they going for full blown comedy instead of the comedy of errors that MTP is?

[jeff47]

11. See if you can find his appearance on Crossfire.

Jon was so good at destroying the hosts that the show was canceled not long after.

(It has since been resurrected again)

[mrdmk]

38. Here it is, starts at One Minute

[Jack Rabbit]

46. That's exactly what came to my mind when I read the thread title

If they actually talked to Stewart, he probably responded with something like "Why are you guys asking me to host Meet the Press? I'm a comedian. Why can't you find a journalist?"

Stewart's point would be exactly what it was when he appeared on Crossfire. For some reason, corporate news outlets don't want to deliver news and, as a matter of fact, NBC can't find any good journalists to host Meet the Press. David Gregory isn't a good journalist, Chuck Todd isn't a good journalist and it's pretty pathetic to listen to network shills try to hype the late Tim Russert as some sort of latter day Murrow.

[CatWoman]

12. Al Franken started off as a comedian

[mopinko]

30. and he was great on air america.

[CatWoman]

40. I thought he was

[immoderate]

15. They wanted him to ANCHOR their SINKING SHIP. Nyuck nyuck.

I don't think they know what he does, beside get ratings. But I bet he could get Steve Carrel, and Stephen Colbert, and John Oliver to appear as guests! Lewis Black!

--imm

[mountain grammy]

60. And it'd be the best show MTP has done in years.

[Gothmog]

7. Jon would have been a great choice

[Cali_Democrat]

8. OMG how awesome would that be?

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Jon Stewart should have taken them up on it.

It would have changed the way that news was discussed.

[grasswire]

10. did they ask Phil Donahue? nt

[wyldwolf]

14. I'll call my contacts at NBC and ask. :)

[Blue Owl]

13. Ever host MTP... on WEED?

[rurallib]

16. Maybe they could ask Fugelsang

or maybe Papantonio?

[sadoldgirl]

17. Jon Steward was very smart to reject it.

[wyldwolf]

20. I'm curious to know why

[TeamPooka]

21. A lower status job with a paycut would be my guess.

[sadoldgirl]

23. Too much control by corporations

Even Keith Olberman had to learn that on MSNBC.

[surrealAmerican]

25. That would be my guess, too.

I'm thinking offering him "almost anything", meant a large salary, and not creative control over the show.

[alfredo]

36. He'd have to miss church.

[kwassa]

37. Mr. Liebowitz?

[alfredo]

45. Yup. His middle name is Zelig

[Spitfire of ATJ]

53. For the same reason he gave Bow Tie Boy....

"The show that comes on after me is puppets making crank phone calls!"

The REAL news is in TROUBLE when they look to a comedian doing FAKE news.

Face it. Rachael Maddow would be a good choice.

[mahannah]

18. bull shit

[wyldwolf]

19. ah, an NBC or Stewart official is with us.

[grahamhgreen]

22. How bout Tom Hartmann or Cenk?

Oh yeah, they had 'that talk' with Cenk and he wouldnt play their game....

[TheDebbieDee]

24. They wanted Jon Stewart and settled for Chuck Todd?

Aw, come on.....

[JHB]

33. Hi dunno. Stewart may have been the "wish for the moon" hope...

If they could have gotten him it would definitely have pushed MTP's audience upward (and its average age downward). Why not pitch it to him?

After all, if he doesn't take it, there's no guaranteed shift, so why knock yourself out looking? There's still an in-house monkey around to fill the seat.

And by now we know how it turned out.

[Iggo]

39. Yeah, seems like they skipped a couple or a thousand steps there.

[HenryWallace]

52. This is a Red Herring; they never wanted him!

Corporate Political Damage Control

NBC aggressively pursued an “out of the box” host that they had no hope of obtaining. Oh, and their second choice is Chuck Todd; a carbon copy of the David Gregory? Please!

The people who wanted Todd as the host desperately needed an insurance policy. The change of hosts did nothing, the decision makers need to keep their jobs.

Queue, the leaked story about Jon Stewart hosting.

[Bjorn Against]

27. While he would improve that show a thousand times over...

I would much rather see him stay on Comedy Central, he would probably be forced to go serious on Meet the Press and he is too good at satire to give it up.

[stevenleser]

42. Agreed. He would have been good, but it's not what he wants to be doing. Comedy is his thing.

He is doing what he enjoys, how he wants to do it and is getting paid well to do it and is wildly successful.

Why, exactly, would he want to make a change?

[KamaAina]

28. They must have read my mind

or my post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025440779#post28

[erpowers]

31. Not A Good Fit

I like Jon Stewart, but I do not think it would have been a good fit. I understand Stewart does interviews on his current show, but at the end of the day he is a comedian. I am not sure the older people who watch the show would want to see a comedian host the show.

[Cha]

32. Jon's a 180 from ChuckyT.. This surprises me that Deborah Turness would be that

savvy.. after all the dumb things I've read she's said about David Gregory("leaning left&quot and the actual hiring of CT.

But, Jon Stewart would have brought huge ratings and a whole new reality to MTP..

mahalo wyldwolf

[delete_bush]

34. Ouch!

From a tweet: "Chuck Todd gets Jon Stewart's NBC sloppy seconds"

He's making $30 million/yr at CC. Plenty of time to shop around for something better than MTP.

[hootinholler]

35. Except control over the program

I bet they weren't willing to surrender a veto.

[6000eliot]

41. Further proof that they haven't a clue what the fuck they are doing.

[DFW]

43. I can think of one huge main reason why Jon Stewart would turn that gig down

It would have forced him to get serious with a whole lot of politicians who aren't.

I wouldn't want that gig either.

[Erose999]

44. If Jon Stewart went to Meet the Press, none of the crazy right wingers who do Sunday AM politics

shows would appear on the show. You think the likes of John Sununu and John "Mayor McCheese" McCain are going to go toe to toe with Jon Stewart every Sunday?

Whoever gets the next hosting job will be just as much of a cheese dick as David Gregory or Chuck Todd. Is Luke Russert still on the MSMBS payroll? I'm guessing he's on deck. Or maybe they'll find some former GOP congressman. I hear Eric Cantor is hook-I mean-looking for work.

[LiberalLovinLug]

51. Bingo

I'm surprised Jon was even asked. This is the same reason they'd never ask Keith Olbermann.

That's why I'm sure, like Cenk, he was told that he would have to be "more accommodating" to Republicans or some such nonsense.

[MynameisBlarney]

47. THAT would have gotten me to start watching tv again.

eom

[Helen Borg]

48. "Virtually anything"? How about a billion dollars? :)

[onecent]

50. Ohh I would watch it then for sure!!!

[whathehell]

54. He would have been too liberal for them. n/t

[Enthusiast]

55. Lies.

[Doc_Technical]

56. I have the perfect host for Meet the Press:

James Dale Guckett aka Jeff Gannon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gannon

[samsingh]

57. there are others - maybe not as good as Jon - but who

would be much better than chuck the idiot.

soledad O'Brien
Ashley Banfield

come to mind.

[Old and In the Way]

58. Don't think Stewart wants to damage his brand.

MTP is serious journalism - at least it is supposed to be. If you are going to give the Sunday News shows to Republicans, why not have Racheal Maddow anchor the program? Other than the fact that every Republican guest will opt out of what has been a weekly fellatio session. Hell, I'd tune in to hear Racheal say, "this is week X of Republicans refusing to show up on my show." Then bring in guests that would love the exposure. It would be a huge win for NBC ratings. Give Racheal Friday nights off and I bet she will be she will jump on the opportunity. She will own the timeslot within 3 months.

[merrily]

59. I want proof. Not saying this story is false, just saying

I find it hard to believe your number one choice is Jon Stewart and your number two choice is Chuck Toad.

Why not Maddow?

[LynneSin]

61. NBC would never give Stewart the ability to say 'Are you F**king Kidding me??' to a guest

And Stewart knows that so he would never accept the gig.