NBC has a "Star Wars Prequel" Problem

Back in the days of long ago movie industry, the creators of the Star Wars franchise staked out an entire galaxy full of possibilities to play with.  Big, audacious and fun   But down the road decisions made at the George Lucas level-turned that narrative universe into something cramped, dull and dumb.  

Back in the days of Three Network Teevee (and long before I knew or cared) Meet the Press could be impressive.   Now that NBC has irreparably fucked it up it may be hard to believe, but the format was a guest facing a panel of reporters who asked them questions.  Hence the title Meet the Press.

Now Meet the Press is known for hosting forgettable guests of dubious honesty who are guaranteed not to be asked anything difficult by a host who always has one eye on the approval of his employers.  This is followed by a panel of the same, rotating cast of zombie pundits, most of whom should've been sent to a nice Pundit Farm upstate years ago.  

Then panel then jerks itself off until it's time to run an ad for dick pills or reverse mortgages.

This happened because, long, long ago in a media universe far, far away Meet the Press stopped caring about, y'know, news and began focusing almost exclusively on Fan Service.  

The lingering questions about Chuck Todd’s future atop the Sunday show have garnered comparisons to the long, drawn-out, messy saga of former 'Meet the Press' host David Gregory, who was ultimately pushed out in 2014 and replaced with Todd. https://t.co/fLmKcuoKAm

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 31, 2022

And which fans did Meet the Press care about servicing?  Their fellow teevee executives and the constellation of professional pundits, insiders and influencers who make up what we call the Beltway.  

Like Lucas with the Star Wars prequels, NBC executives completely lost sight of what made the original Meet the Press popular and culturally important.  It was the compelling guests they put in front of the camera and the story they had to tell while fencing with actual, shoe-leather reporters.  

Instead, the latter-day Meet the Press executives built a temple to honor the Both Siderist fetish of their   Beltway friends and fans: a tepid, toxic pudding of forgettable guests, one-dimensional pundits, stupid writing and Both Siderism tarted up with zooming cameras, the space-age sets  and the seizure-inducing graphics.  (Does anyone still say "space-age"?)

It didn't need to be this way, but this is the way it is.

And until the executives who built this temple to Both Siderism are purged and their temple is torn down brick by brick, this is the way it will stay, no matter who they stick in the big chair.  

 

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