I had to look up "star chamber" to verify I was using it correctly, I have to admit...

It's the image of a guy facing a whole bench of judges peering down at him that stuck with me, when I was thinking of the old clips from MTP. Not as adversarial, but similar enough to use, I thought.

If anything, for the wonky wordy folks, I threw in "peripatetic" -- a word I learned from Calvin and Hobbes, personally...

:-)

As for bluegrass, I once saw a bumpersticker which said "Use a banjo, go to jail. It's the law."

Heh. Or maybe it was "accordion," I forget...

:-)

Paula -

Yeah, I stayed away from the whole "psychologist/brand consultant" raging debate, because I found it inane.

I've long advocated that whenever any story is done on tax brackets or taxing the rich, all television journalists should be required to say: "Full disclosure: I am actually in the highest tax bracket in this country."

That would change some opinions, I bet.

akadjian -

Yeah, I know, but SOMEbody's got to watch these programs. Sigh. As Jason Linkins used to say (until HuffPost killed his Sunday show roundup columns), "I watch these shows so you don't have to." I'm in a similar position: I almost have to watch these shows, since so many quotes happen during them which the rest of the inside-the-Beltway set will obsess over for days.

Here are my personal views of the other three shows:

ABC -- peripatetic king of Sundays! Although I do like that they invite actual liberals onto their panels. You actually hear Krugman and his ilk, which is more than I can say for all the other shows.

CBS -- I like Schieffer as an interviewer and for his commentary (he has a little mini-op-ed segment each week). Closest to "a guy who understands there is a world outside of the Beltway" as you can get on Sunday morning.

Fox -- I actually think Chris Wallace is the best interviewer on Sunday mornings. On the panels, he leans way right, but during interviews he asks tough questions of liberals (naturally) but also of conservatives (surprisingly).

-CW

1. Who gets their news from TV anymore?

2. Politicians control the shows based on access. If you ask them something they don't want to be asked, they leave. So there seems to be a standard gentleman's agreement that the shows will simply be a forum for talking points.

3. Which leads to ... why get your news from television?

4. The 2 to 1 conservative to liberal ratio is pretty much standard for corporate television.

5. Leading once again to ... why listen to corporate television?

Not that any of this is bad. I just think they should change the name of the show to "Meet the Old Tired Press"

-David

What I think is bigger than all of that is the sheer uselessness of the Sunday shows for anyone who actually cares about anything political. The slide has been gradual --part of the overall disintegration of "elite" journalism in this country -- and you have to step back from them to recognize how bad these shows are. They are simply vehicles for talking points, with a preponderance of conservative voices. They exist to prop up the fantasies and biases of the beltway denizens; to reassure those people that the world cares about what they care about, and that's it. Paul Krugman aside, people like Peggy Noonan and the rest need to be put out to pasture and never heard from again. Everything about these people says "we are completely out of touch with the world today -- we live in the past -- and we're rich -- and have nothing useful to offer".

Which will ultimately result in the longest running, least watched show on network TV. All parties involved (a few dozen or so), moderator, guests, members of the press, even sponsors will be heads in bell jars.

Gregory is awful, but it's not entirely his fault. The "Golden Age" of Meet the Press occurred when the viewing audience still had newspaper/news magazine driven expectations. News cycles were longer, articles were longer, and reporters didn't have to be particularly good looking. Politics and politician were more centerist, there were fewer litmus tests, and fact checkers didn't have Google.

Meet the Press is dying because it ran into niche oriented news marketing. Gregory is a symptom, not the disease. Meet the Press will be worth watching when NBC really cares about news. Given who owns NBC, I'm not expecting much. I am expecting GE's line of quality bell jars and bell jar related products and services to flourish.

One politician would sit in front of a whole panel of news reporters and would field questions from them all. You can see this occasionally in the historic clips they run of luminaries such as Martin Luther King Jr. or one of the Kennedys. It was a much more adversarial setup, with six (or more) reporters asking questions of one person. The shows had a certain "star chamber session" flavor to them, in fact.

It would be nice if MTP ended up going back to that original format and flavour. Maybe I'm just being nostalgic but, I think that might actually boost the ratings IF they choose competent journalists not just the big names.

Star Chamber? Where did you get that Chris? I'm a history guy, but even I missed it until until I started in on the Baroque Cycle. Wasn't aware that it was a reference on par with McCarthy, but we all get bored. Props, do more of that please.

And yah, TV news has been a cycle of hair pieces and nonsense since the 90s, that's not gonna change until they reach a true apocalyptic point. Then the pendulum will swing. Until then, I'll just listen to This American Life, which is doing twenty minute stories on the weekends. Say what you will, but NPR takes rational popular criticism head on in its formats.

Which is mostly depressing, hooray we win radio? but radio has become, for me at least, the number one commute listening device. And I listen to pants on head crazy town, enough of the time, to stay in sinc with what they're bloviating about. Though I only really listen on Sunday and Saturday nights when bluegrass takes over NPR, sorry NPR nothing will get me to willingly appreciate bluegrass. Oh no you don't need to explain it, I get it. Just no.

In either case, Yes the political class watches meet the press, but no one has cared for a few years. And in a few years more? Internet my friends, it's a thing, tell your brokers.