NY Times Disses Luke Russert: ‘Acts and Sounds’ Like a ‘Network Anchor in Training’
New York Times Chief TV columnist Alessandra Stanley really liked Chuck Todd‘s first episode as host of NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday. But buried inside her write up of Todd’s performance is a little slight at his colleague Luke Russert.
In her latest column, Stanley characterizes Todd as the anti-David Gregory, the guy who Todd replaced. “Mr. Todd doesn’t look like other anchors,” she writes. “For one thing, he has a goatee and speaks in a direct, conversational manner, without punchy diction or pomposity.” She writes that Gregory, on the other hand, “appeared too eager to please and too pleasing to be plausible.”
She also wrote on the show’s new revamped panel, which includes a not-so-complimentary description of Russert:
There were changes in the format, and some new features and new panelists, notably Joe Scarborough, a host of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, where Mr. Todd used to appear almost daily. Luke Russert, another MSNBC star, will be a regular on “Meet the Press,” even though he did not appear on Sunday. (It’s not clear to viewers whether Mr. Russert, 29, is a possible understudy as host: He looks like his father [another former “Meet the Press Host”], Tim, but he acts and sounds a lot like a network anchor in training.)
Ouch. Does anybody ever want to be described as an amateur?
The praise for Todd, however, flowed freely from Stanley. She concludes: “Mr. Todd may still be the substitute teacher, but he looks like he could quickly master the class.”
UPDATE — 2:00 p.m. ET: Russert says he took the Stanley’s description as a compliment.
@eScarry Haha, I honestly took it as a compliment–Brian Williams in training, Scott Pelley in training, David Muir in training –an honor
— Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) September 8, 2014
[Photo via MSNBC/screen grab]
