Disclaimer: This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.
NBC news anchor Chuck Todd has recently been demoted on MSNBC. His show got the “Chris Wallace treatment” and was moved to streaming only. He is still staying on as host of “Meet the Press.”
According to a report by The Daily Beast, Todd’s days may be numbered there.
Todd’s show is down in the ratings, sinking to 21 percent in total viewership and 24 percent in the key advert sting demo compared to last year. This is a bigger decline than any of the other Sunday political shows have seen.
John Reiss, the show’s executive producer for the last eight years, got moved to streaming only and the network brought in a former CNN producer, David P. Gelles, to help correct the network.
Sources told The Daily Beast that “Gelles’ first task is deciding what to do about Chuck Todd, who despite recently signing a two-year extension, as Confider has learned, has baffled many at NBC with how long he’s remained atop the struggling show.”
One source said, “At what point does anyone have the balls to say ‘Maybe the problem is the face of it’?”
An NBC spokesperson said, “After being the EP of the Sunday broadcast for eight years, at the end of his contract, John Reiss was looking for a different opportunity within the MTP franchise.”
The Daily Beast reported:
Todd was already demoted once this year when his Meet the Press Daily broadcast on MSNBC was relegated to NBC’s streaming service. And earlier this year, with NBC Universal CEO Jeff Shell in attendance, Todd was brutally roasted by Trevor Noah at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “How are you doing?” the Daily Show host asked Todd. “I’d ask a follow-up, but I know you don’t know what those are.”
According to 30 Rock insiders, these incidents have all demonstrated how Todd remains unpopular with viewers and critics and that the Meet the Press franchise has been overexposed.
“At what point does anyone have the balls to say ‘Maybe the problem is the face of it’?” one Meet the Press source wondered. The show has thus far been unable to replace its booking producer, who recently left for Meta, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Brian Stelter was just let go from CNN, and CEO Chris Licht told staffers at CNN that more changes were coming to the network.
“There will be moves you may not agree with or understand,” Licht said.
He added, “I want to acknowledge to everyone that this is a time of change. I know that it is unsettling.”
Warner Bros. Discovery has been there in the midst of the cost cuts and laying off of staffers following the merger.
“No one is safe or secure right now,” a CNN staffer told Deadline on Friday.
Stelter had three years left on the seven-figure contract he signed din 2021. His departure made people speculate that John Malone had a part to play in Stelter leaving.
