For me, Sunday mornings always started with Tim Russert and MEET THE PRESS. Mr. Russert always got the A list guests and used Sundays to set the political tone for the week in Washington. Mr. Russert was well respected and fantastic interviewer. He pushed, he prodded, sometimes not hard enough for my liking, but I do understand that you can nibble, but it is always unwise to fully bite the hand that feeds you. I mourned his passing in 2008.
And with his passing, Sundays morning became an open field for the Sunday Morning Political News Shows. Now I watch both MEET THE PRESS with David Gregory and THIS WEEK with George Stephanopoulos. I like David Gregory. He a bit acerbic and curt, but he does dig with guests. His interview style is still evolving, and I will stick with MTP for a while. I do like George Stephanopoulos alot. The style of his show is much more of a news/entertainment show. He does an In Memoriam segment and a Sunday Funny's (a best of clip show of the late night talk show commentary and jokes). He is really lining up the A list guests. In Washington, it is really who you can get an interview with on that Sunday. Mr. Stephanopoulos is getting more confident, bolder, and more confrontational in his interviews, and I like that.
The real sorrow was NBC not paying Tom Brokaw however much money he wanted to stay on and host MTP. Of anyone, only Mr. Brokaw could claim the mantle that Tim Russert left behind. I also saw that Mr. Brokaw felt more free to challenge guests than he ever could hosting NBC's Nightly News. The MTP format seemed to free up his interviewing style a bit more.
Sunday's continue to be interesting, but long term, I see Mr. Stephanopoulos taking over the Sunday morning Political News lead. Too bad, it was NBC's to lose by not keeping Mr. Brokaw.
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