Post-Russert, NBC Should Remake Meet the Press

NBC seems set on finding a Russert clone, but that's a mistake: Brown

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 1, 2008 6:20 PM CST

(Newser) – Paralyzed by the perceived necessity of finding a Tim Russert doppelganger, NBC has already taken too long to choose a new host for Meet the Press, writes Tina Brown for the Daily Beast. “Russert defined an era,” Brown writes, "but that era is over.” Tom Brokaw needs a rest, and the show's format needs an overhaul.

Avoid the Washington insiders—both guests and host—advises Brown. Rather, make use of informed outsiders who will challenge the “received wisdom” of those “B-list senators and warhorse commentators” who are TV's bland staples. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow would be ideal for the top spot: She’s smart and unflappable, “and she listens to what the person she’s talking to is saying.”

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In this Jan. 24, 2008, file photo provided by NBC, Tim Russert moderates the Republican Presidential Candidates Debate from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla. (AP Photo/NBC, Virginia Sherwood)

In this Feb. 7, 2004, file photo provided by The White House, President Bush is interviewed by NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert, left, in the Oval Office of the White House. (AP Photo/The White House, Eric Draper)

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Meet the Press has to change not just the host but the show itself. It may be successful now, but the winds of change could suddenly engulf it as they have the giants of print.
- Tina Brown

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Post-Russert, NBC Should Remake Meet the Press