October 6, 2014

Chuck Todd chuckles over your possible need for liquor in the morning.

"I've got a nice new coffee bar. I'm going to call it coffee bar because hey, it's Sunday morning, we should only be drinking coffee. Some of you may decide that you need more than that. But we hope you enjoy [the new 'Meet the Press' set]. It's a clean look, we like it. It's more my style. And now let's get down to business. It's been a rough week."

From yesterday morning's show. 

And, actually, I loved the new set. Whether it's actually Chuck Todd's style — whether Chuck Todd has a style in interior decoration — I have no idea. But some designers decided to strike the old saturated blue and lucite world that exists nowhere in normal life but everywhere on television and build something more like an oversized office space for flesh-and-blood 1-percenters.

And now that I think about it, I doubt that Todd determined the shape of his own goatee. Some stylist determined that Todd's chin-line determined the shape that would sharpen up Todd's image.

Todd's image may be intended to be hip, but the part of the show where he stands in front of a screen and comes up with some sort of cute and sort of expert explanation for something — with music playing in the background for some insane reason — is getting called "Nerd Screen." Perhaps someone decided that it's cool to be a nerd or as we used to say hip to be square.

Did you know "Hip to Be Square" is Huey Lewis and the News's "undisputed masterpiece... a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself!"

Does Chuck Todd know the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends? Does Chuck Todd ever make a personal statement? Does Chuck Todd really grant us the latitude to "decide" that we "need" more than coffee in the morning, and am I correct to read into that delegation of decision-making authority an actual encouragement to consume liquor in the morning based on need?

But "we should only be drinking coffee," Todd says, even though "It's been a rough week," and I take it that Todd's message is one only of compassion for those who feel the need for something "more" than coffee. He only hints at possible indulgence if should we succumb to our need.

33 comments:

Barry Dauphin said...

There are donuts on the coffee bar, although I don't think they are meant to be eaten. Perhaps they are plastic, sort of like MTP.

LordSomber said...

There is an idea of a Chuck Todd; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real him: only an entity, something illusory.

Anonymous said...

'The Best Part about Waking Up
is Bailey's in your Cup'

phantommut said...

This post encapsulates why I have effectively abandoned talking-head television. It's wanking all the way down.

phantommut said...

And for once I agree with betamax.

Anonymous said...

Well, I woke up this morning, I got myself a beer
Well, I woke up this morning, and I got myself a beer
Chuck Todd's uncertain, but the Coffee bar is always near

Anonymous said...

When we all descend this Spring in Madison, Wisconsin at a Hotel-to-be-named-later for the Althouse Appreciation Symposium drinks in the morning will be very fashionable.

chillblaine said...

"One of the things about the Republican party is you don't like a lot of regulation on businesses, except if the business is a abortion clinic."

Apparatchik Todd always brings us the pithiest, most focus-group tested slogans in the Party.

I look forward to the day when the Air Force has all the bombers it needs, and Planned Parenthood has to hold a bake sale to abort a fetus.

Anonymous said...

Attendees will all wear name-tags, of course.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Whenever I see Chuck Todd, I always think of Frank Burns. It's not a physical similarity, except maybe the chin, but still, ferret face comes to mind.

Frank Burns eats worms.

Fen said...

"One of the things about the Republican party is you don't like a lot of regulation on businesses, except if the business is a abortion clinic."

Guess which is the largest unregulated industry in the nation? Abortion.

He's almost as stupid as those who pretend the call for less gov = no gov.

Anonymous said...

At the Althouse Appreciation Symposium it will be Hip to Be Square, if you like.

Bob Boyd said...

"It's been a rough week."

If its a rough week for Obama its a rough week for Todd. Its getting harder to Nerdsplain us all this stuff.

And they don't trim the goatee to make Todd's chin look good. They trim it to accentuate the President's nut sack.

Anonymous said...

I am figuring we will need to do a head-count in mid-winter to determine space needs at the Hotel-to-be-named-later. These things take some planning.

virgil xenophon said...

Bob Boyd kills it!

mccullough said...

Guys with weak chins need stiff drinks

RecChief said...

If you say "It's been a rough week," I want to know what was rough about it for Chuck Todd? did his dog die? engine in his car give up the ghost?

Or is he speaking as the Democrat Party operative that he is, and there is some new gaffe, misstep, or scandal from this adminsitration?

traditionalguy said...

Todd has a two year niche. He is allowed to ask questions that expose Obama as what went wrong with the All American Dems and imply Bill and Hillary are the antidote coming our way.

Bob Boyd said...

@Tradguy

That's Hillary and Bill, mister!

William said...

Chuck Todd does the interview and, in the superior background, you see the panel, perched like crows on a telephone wire.. Are the panel meant to be seen as a Greek Chorus or as a jury of peers? It's distracting......Chuck Todd is more likable than Gregory. Not necessarily a high bar, but he is. The beard doesn't make him look like a hipster, but it does give his face a distinguishing characteristic. If you're not impossibly good looking, it helps to set you out from the crowd.

sakredkow said...

"I take it that Todd's message is one only of compassion for those who feel the need for something 'more' than coffee."

Like breakfast?

RecChief said...

maybe what bummed out Chuckie was the British business minister's admission that carbon taxes are hurting British businesses?

cubanbob said...

The only way to sit through F. Chuck Todd and MTP is with a very, very fortified coffee. But unless you enjoy getting drunk on a Sunday morning, why would you?

Brando said...

A panel discussion of the issues of the week where the panelists get progressively drunker as the show progresses would be far more entertaining than the Sunday news shows.

Drago said...

LordSomber: "But there is no real him: only an entity, something illusory."

Nope.

Todd is simply another in a long string of democrat operatives (former Harkin staffer) who is married to another liberal democrat operative.

Which makes him....objective. Someone who plays it "straight down the middle".

Of course.

Like Mary Mapes.

mccullough said...

No Huey Lewis and the News tag?

The Crack Emcee said...

White supremacist talk about nonsense.

Every fucking word,...

Drago said...

CR

And Crack continues just phoning it in.

We'll have to wait for Betamax, again, to set it all straight.

wildswan said...

The Democrats Dilemma

Boots on the ground or brutes on the ground

PS Benedictine on grapefruit is very good and that way you get your alcohol for sustainable TV viewing done early

Michael K said...

My Sunday morning is too crowded for Todd.

virgil xenophon said...

Swinging back by again and I see cuban bob@11:22am and Brando@1:04pm seem to have the right formula, lol. "I'll drink to that!!"

Achilles said...

The Crack Emcee said...
"Black supremacist talk about nonsense.

Every fucking word,..."

FIFY

Lost My Cookies said...

He needs to grow a full beard or shave it off. His face looks like a vagina.