Sunday Morning Still Searching For Successor To Russert's Throne: Will It Be Stephanopoulos?

"The throne is empty."

So said "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, meaning that there has been no successor as the king of Sunday morning television since Tim Russert's death last June.

Wallace made the comment to the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz (himself a player in the Sunday morning TV game with his "Reliable Sources" hour during John King's "State of the Union" on CNN).

Kurtz interviewed all four of the Sunday morning news show hosts -- David Gregory, moderator of "Meet the Press" on NBC; George Stephanopoulos, host of "This Week" on ABC; Bob Schieffer, host of "Face the Nation" on CBS; and Fox News' Wallace -- and declared the news throne up for grabs.

According to a piece Monday in the Los Angeles Times, however, Stephanopoulos is posing a threat to NBC's long-standing dominance in the top spot. Meg James writes:

After years of toiling in the shadows of a giant, ABC's Sunday morning public affairs program, "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," is finally beginning to step into the spotlight once exclusively occupied by NBC's "Meet the Press."

One analyst cites Stephanopoulos' roundtable -- which Kurtz notes "features George Will and, at times, paid ABC contributors: Krugman, the Nobel-winning New York Times columnist; CNN's Donna Brazile; former Bush campaign pollster Matthew Dowd; and onetime Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke" -- as one of the driving forces behind its surging popularity.

News analyst Andrew Tyndall told James that the "This Week" roundtable "is the best forum on Sunday mornings."

Kurtz looks at the way each of the hosts has adjusted his program to reflect the void in any de facto leading voice on Sunday morning. Gregory, he says, has loosened up and tried to bring a new generation of voices onto the program. Stephanopoulos has "been injecting more of his opinion," Schieffer lobbied for President Obama's first Sunday morning sit-down, and Wallace has challenged the administration on issues such as dropping the term "the war on terror."

Perhaps most importantly, Kurtz notes, the battle for supremacy is playing out in the ratings: "Meet the Press" was down 6% in Q1, while "This Week" was up 12% and "Face the Nation" was up 8% ("Fox News Sunday" was essentially flat). And, as both Kurtz and James note in their pieces, "This Week" is closing the viewing gap with "Meet the Press" -- on April 5, Stephanopoulos trailed Gregory by just 200,000 viewers, and on April 12 by just 360,000 viewers.

Read Kurtz's piece in the Washington Post here and read James' piece on the Los Angeles Times here.

Comments

[Mohanna]

I vote for David Schuster.

[truth2008]

I second, Schuster rocks!

[donna16]

Shuster gets my vote too!

[sheaintsayin]

There are a few voices and acute minds at NPR who could take this assignment on and do Tim Russert proud, including his friend Gwen Ifill, who was apparently considered and passed on, and then there is the very grounded Ray Saurez, and the ever pleasant, persistent, and curious David Brancaccio(?). Otherwise, get me Lawrence O'Donnell (yummy!), although as an admittedly liberal, he'd likely not pass the neutral (neutered?) test - ouch!

[BIG JOHN]

MORNING JOE? HELL NO.

[justwaitandsee]

Hell to the NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[VOTER]

24-7 HELL NO!

[youknowwhat]

One thing is for sure is that whomever they pick it will be a rightwinger. These Sunday morning talk shows are becoming no more than Fox satellites. I believe MTP had at least three neocons and an almost neocon on this past Sunday.

[Laserbeam]

I quit watching MTP several weeks ago. I stuck it out hoping that either Gregory would improve or they'd find someone else, but I've finally lost my patience. It is actually PAINFUL watching Gregory let statements go sailing past his head without correction or comment. Has he ever heard of a follow-up question? Did anyone ever tell him how much homework Russert did before each show, so that he could correct his guests on "mistatements" if there were any?

[Roose]

When NBC appointed Gregory to anchor MTP, I vowed I would never watch it, I have not broken my vow. George S I cannot stand since he and his pal Charles Gibson double teamed Obama during the primaries in the infamous ABC Clinton/Obama debate.

It seems to me that McCain is on any one of those shows every week. Who wants to watch the same people spew the same garbage week after week?

[Dunworkin]

Sunday mornings when David comes on i go to the barn and clean up the night droppings from the horses and feel good about myself that i have not wasted a very important hour of my sunday.

[hmmmmmer]

I quit watching because David is like milk toast when it comes to questioning Republicans. He lets them say whatever they want without question. When he does question them he goes with whatever answer they come up with. He is the worst possible replacement possible.

[bo245f]

Totally agree with you. David is awful and I'm not sure why he got that job. Tim was a real journalist and had talking points with backup. He questioned you, anticipated your answer and had follow up with proof, Tim was the one No Bias No Bull.

[Sharon Smith-Akinsanya]

I agree completely!

[Alonzo]

All these people are obviously more interested in furthering their careers
than asking the hard, important questions. Court jesters is the best you could say for
them: equally clownish, but less amusing.

[NWRICK]

Count me in that 6% drop.
I tried, but DG is just not doing it for me.
I miss Tim. :-(

[Laserbeam]

Me, too.

[BuckPo]

I suggest that Tom Ashbrook be interviewed for the job. Tom is the host of "On Point" on NPR. Tom could certainly honor Tim's memory in my humble opinion.

[rosal]

And I thought I was the only one who doesn't watch Meet the Press anymore. I used to arrange my schedule around so I wouldn't miss it. After Russert passed away I saw it a couple of times, I knew that was the end of watching for me. It will be very difficult so replace Russert, a true journalist.

[Big0725]

The headline is somewhat damning of David Gregory's ability, and rightly so.

[justwaitandsee]

And JohnKing who is not evn listed

[water57]

As punishment for having to view both King and Gregory, those two should interview each other. Just watching them is like getting your tooth pull without any painkiller, because both of them are consider toothache of men.

[kasinca]

All of these shows are ridiculous. Why would they think that we want to hear the opinion of the loser party that has decided to not participate in the governing us out of the mess they created on all the shows. It seems they want the republicans to give an opinion on everything as if they are still relevant. I refuse to watch any of them. David Gregory and John King cut their teeth ont he busheviks and they only know that model taught to them by the busheviks. They take a republican talking point as truth and then set out to prove it wrong. Anyone who has ever been falsely accused in court would know how difficult it is to prove a negative.

[MANK]

The biggest joke is DeLay on MNBC and Gingrich everywhere. Who of us could not write their teleprompter tirade?

[katocat]

The best hope for replacing Tim Russert is Luke Russert.

[ColumbusMike]

Maybe after he has about 20 more years of experience.