Meet the Press Executive Producer Jumps to Network’s Streaming Service
Photo via Meet the Press on Facebook.
Meet the Press Executive Producer John Reiss is moving over to Meet the Press Reports on NBC News NOW, the network’s streaming service.
Reiss has been on the Meet the Press team for eight years along with NBC News political director and show moderator Chuck Todd. The show has enjoyed long-running ratings success among its Sunday competitors, racking up a six-year winning streak in the key 25-54 age demographic so prized by advertisers.
Reiss’ resume includes stints at Dateline NBC, NBC Nightly News, as executive producer of Hardball with Chris Matthews, and overseeing MSNBC’s political programming and election coverage. Reiss worked with Todd to expand the Meet the Press program from a Sunday show to a multi-platform franchise airing seven days a week, including helping launch Meet the Press Reports five years ago, along with its streaming debut in 2020.
During Reiss’ tenure at Meet the Press, the show earned five Emmy nominations, including this year’s News and Documentary Emmy for Outstanding News Discussion & Analysis for its “Schools, America & Race” episode.
In May, it was announced that Todd would shift with Meet the Press Daily from MSNBC over to NBC News NOW.
Todd credited Reiss with the show’s success in a statement provided to Mediaite, calling him “a producer’s producer and a storyteller at heart.”
“In three decades covering politics, it’s hard to pick a more turbulent period than the last eight years,” said Todd. “So all I can say is, thank goodness we had John Reiss. I can’t imagine a steadier partner to have had on Sundays over during this tumultuous period of politics. John’s sixth sense for what makes a good news broadcast, and an unflappable devotion he has to good storytelling, have kept us a step ahead of our peers for six years now. John is a producer’s producer and a storyteller at heart, I can’t wait to see where he takes Meet the Press Reports.”
Reiss sent an email to the Meet the Press team, saying that his time on the show had been “eight of the most productive, enjoyable and fulfilling years of my 28 spent at NBC News” but it was “now time for me to move on” and he was “enormously grateful to be staying with the Meet the Press team, the place I’ve called home for so long.”
“So, while I’m going, I’m not going very far,” he continued, and thanked the entire staff saying “it’s been a privilege working with all of you,” singling out Todd, “my partner in this journey, for making me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”
“And the best part?” he concluded. “The best part is there’s more to come.”
The daily streaming edition of the show, Meet the Press NOW, will continue to be executive produced by Melissa Frankel.
David P. Gelles will take over from Reiss as executive producer of the Sunday broadcast of Meet the Press. Gelles got his start in the television news industry as an NBC Page and is a five-time Emmy award winning television executive, showrunner and content creator. Gelles was a producer for NBC News’ TODAY from 2006 to 2011, a producer on Brian Williams’ Rock Center from 2011 to 2013, and then joined CNN, where he helped develop multiple programs for the cable network’s now-shuttered streaming service CNN+, served as executive producer of CNN’s political and special events programming, and produced live event coverage including the 2020 election coverage, the Derek Chauvin verdict, and former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
NBC News has been on a hiring spree over the past year, snapping up bold-print names from other media outlets like PBS’ Washington Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, Politico’s Marc Caputo, and ABC News’ Tom Llamas, and expanding their streaming offerings, such as the addition of Meet the Press Reports.
This article has been updated to clarify that Meet the Press Daily is shifting to NBC News Now, not the Sunday edition of the show, and to add additional information.
