Chuck Todd's first outing as host of Meet the Press receives mixed reviews.

I have to admit that I totally forgot to watch this yesterday.

I've been binge watching Californication lately, and I completely forgot that this was on.

But have no fear I powered through it when it was rebroadcast later in the day, and my take was "Meh."

And apparently I am not alone.

Here was the Washington Post take: 

There was no revolution Sunday as Chuck Todd debuted as host of “Meet the Press,” NBC’s venerable, venerated and vulnerable talk show. Little about Todd’s first hour redefined Sunday talk-showing as we know it.

The Huffington Post was a little kinder: Chuck Todd's version of "Meet The Press" was not radically different than David Gregory's, but the show was certainly livelier, less stuffy.

The big selling point was that Todd secured an interview with the President.

Here is how Politico reported on that:  

Chuck Todd kicked off his inaugural edition of NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday by trying to manage expectations: “Obviously it’s a pretty big honor for me to be sitting in this chair as the 12th moderator of this program. We’re living in a house as we remodel it, so the program …will continue to evolve.” 

He needn’t have: Todd’s opening program was strong on news. Yes, that was chiefly due to an exclusive interview with President Obama, but Todd was also an effective interrogator. “What do you tell the person that’s going to get deported before the election that this decision was essentially made in your hopes of saving a Democratic Senate?” he asked the president of his decision to delay executive action on immigration. 

Obama had the upper hand in steering the conversation, but Todd elicited some newsy comments from the president on his plans to address the nation regarding the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, on the potential spread of the Ebola virus, and on his struggle with optics — specifically playing golf after making remarks on ISIL’s killing of James Foley. “I should’ve anticipated the optics,” Obama said. “Part of this job is also the theater of it. That’s not something that always comes naturally to me. But it matters.” 

Going one on one with Obama, and not being a wuss about it, should give Todd some props coming right out of the gate, but of course the President is not about to do cameos every week in order to drive up ratings. 

In other words, though he could not have helped but to be better than David Gregory, color me unimpressed.

For those who missed the Obama interview (Like me.), here it is in its entirety.