Affleck as Olbermann: Was this even funny?

Uncles Matthews and Olbermann are out

Over the weekend, MSNBC decided to give it's two biggest personalities some harsh news: Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are relieved of their duty as election night hosts. From here on in, David Gregory (yeah, we know) will be at the helm and Matthews and Olbermann will be reduced to the role of analysts.

If you feel this was a needed move based on journalistic integrity or, if you're like us and have a brain-spraining time trying to imagine these two chiming in on election night as second fiddles to David Gregory, go ahead and participate in our newest poll:

A day in the life of The Chuck:The Chuck and his own personal political Ironman competition

As the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention comes to an end, it is inconceivable to believe Chuck Todd is going to survive the remainder of this week.

The man is superhuman. He shows up looking like the cat that swallowed the canary this morning on Morning Joe, simply beaming from the excitement of knowing that for the rest of the week he will be applying his gifts and opinions towards unfolding history. Hell, just the fact that he still had his hearing and a semblance of a voice after that mosh pit of a remote at Sams #3 diner where the Morning Joe crew was working from was a miracle in itself.

At 12:00pm EST he settled in nicely doing the anchor thing with some great guests such a former Governor of Virginia Mark Warner and presidential historian Michael Beschloss. After that it was a free-for-all for The Chuck popping in and out of everybody's broadcast all the way up till The Nightly News with Brian Williams. Believe it or not, the lad looked as fresh as he did 16 hours prior.

Below is a nice recap of the evening filed by Viva Chuck Todd Chief Field Correspondent, Lenore K.

7:11 p.m. ET
Chuck talked with Matthews about the Denver bubble they're in, saying the Clinton die-hards are a small group with a louder voice than numbers, and about how this is the British version of campaigning due to the 70-day sprint to the election, unless there's a days-long recount.

7:36 p.m. ET (following some Keith/Chris vs Joe unpleasantness)
Chuck with Keith —
Hillary. Again. The rollcall. Again.

After Keith launched into one of his endless multi-part questions, he got The Chuck smackdown: "Keith, you asked about eight questions. I'm going to try to answer a few of them."

He said the campaigns are working closely together on the rollcall, that the speeches are more contentious than the rollcall. That would seem to invite a follow-up question like, "How so, Chuck?" But no, apparently, the minds of Keith & Chris were elsewhere.

8:07 p.m. ET
Chuck talked about "the hidden hand of power of Nancy Pelosi," how she did a lot to shift the party away from the Clintons to Obama; how, while going after the superdelegates, the Clintons would still have had to get through a convention run by Pelosi & Dean, "two people who felt they never owed the Clintons anything."

10:08 p.m. ET
With Brian Williams —
Chuck talked about how modern conventions are defined by these moments (Kennedy speech), how there's a bigger thing [than the Clintons], how the keys to the party will be handed over to the Obamas even though Bill's still hanging on to them a bit.

10:28 p.m. ET
Chuck listed the three things Obama has to do this week: fill in the gaps (of his bio); create contrast with McCain; and create unity.

10:55 p.m. ET
Chuck said Michelle had a tough act to follow, but she was trying to connect with blue-collar voters, and with Hillary Clinton voters (because, I learned today, there's no more important bloc of voters in the whole world).

And in his 16th hour of work —
11:41 p.m. ET
Chuck said there'll be two memories from this convention: Obama's speech & Teddy Kennedy's, & the Clinton drama may fade into the background. Chris Matthews ended this segment with these insightful words: "I don't know how we could do any of this without Chuck Todd. He's the best. Chuck, you're the greatest."

Here here Matthews. We couldn't agree more.

Can we pick'em or what?RADAR names TV's Most Powerful Pundits

Radar magazine is a favorite employee lounge read over here at the Viva Chuck Todd offices, so we were very pleased to see that they were giving it up for not only (#1) The Chuck, but (#3) Rachel Maddow and (#4) Scarborough as well. Whatever the hell Mike Huckabee and Gore 2000 saboteur Donna Brasile were doing on the same list we'll never know. But it was nice to see that a mainstream publication with a hilarious mean streak sees the pundit world the same way we do over here at VCT.

On the flipside of who's not hot, it was slightly sad to see Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on the list, but you could definitely understand where Radar writer, Nick Curran was coming from. Olbermann could do nicely to finally lay-off the tired and borderline batsh*t crazy O'Reilly schtick and sweet jeezus, we too cannot wait for Matthews to start his Major Kong missile ride of a Pennsylvania senate run in 2010.

Sunday is going to come whether we like it or not

You've heard it, we've heard it - The macabre murmur of necessary speculation on who will fill Tim Russert's chair. Politico.com and National Review Online have already weighed in on the potential heirs as have multiple blogs with insightful, albeit biased, yet consistently respectful opinions on the next chapter of Meet The Press.

The reason that we've decided to chime in on this uncomfortable subject is because at last count by our editorial staff, Chuck is at the top of most lists. As you read their observations, you understand that Chuck is the visceral choice. He emulates the qualities that Russert did; a warm humility, disarming intelligence and a voracious appetite for all things sport and politic. On the flipside, the logical choice is David Gregory. Logical in the sense that he's a known quantity by having been a guest-moderator several times before and is a fixture of the NBC News Political team. But what echoes constantly when Gregory's name is brought up is his elite arrogance and cozy relationships he shares with key political figures sometimes skewing his objectivity.

Andrea Mitchell, Gwen Ifill and Chris Matthews (I know) have been suggested as well. Even Tom Brokaw is making the lists. The new talent such as Keith Olbermann (not new per se, but new to this level of serious consideration for political coverage) and David Shuster have been hinted at with the all usual right-wing pot shots reserved for Olbermann.

Many people have pointed out the similar backgrounds both Chuck and Russert shared. The humble roots, strong family ties and respect for the golden rule. Some of the more heart-wrenching moments on Friday were when people like Andrea Mitchell and Keith Olbermann introduced Chuck as essentially one of the best things that happened to the NBC news team in a long time and each one emphatically praised Russert for being the one responsible for bringing Chuck on.

Let's just put it out there and freely admit that this is hardly the repository for objective analysis on Chuck Todd and the NBC News Division. We all want the best for Chuck and Meet The Press. What we don't want is a hasty solution in the midst of this historic election that causes a truncated epilogue to the tragedy that was Friday.

That's why we want to hear from you. Knowing that the vast majority of us would want nothing more than to see Chuck ascend to this role - we also know that there will be some decisions made on grounds antithetical to emotion. With that said, vote in the poll below and leave comments on why Chuck should get the job or why he shouldn't. Perhaps the right people who have influence read Viva Chuck Todd. We certainly like to think Tim Russert did.

CHUCK COUTURE:Stripes are back and then some, bravo!

As Mr. Todd's star rises, so do his ensembles in their sophistication and presentation.

This evening during his appearance on Countdown with Keith Olbermann (another fellow who certainly knows his way around your better Gotham haberdasheries), Mr. Todd graced us with a bold and some might say provocative pinstripe suit. The actual pinstripe pattern departed from the norm by being variegated in width. The pattern was brought to heel by the rich midnight blue of the suit. Letting the suit pattern take the lead, the shirt choice was smart and safe in that is was a simple solid Reykjavik-frost blue silk dress shirt with a wide spread 3" points collar.

It was unfortunate that Mr. Todd chose to go with a standard four-in-hand knot and not the classic Windsor knot. The gorge was rendered anemic by this choice and brought too much notice to the albeit sumptuous yet ever so slightly distracting sheen of his shirt. We would've also preferred French cuffs and sterling cuff links for Mr. Todd which would have taken advantage of the camera angles that involved both he and Mr. Olbermann. We were rendered aghast by shoulder puckering that we can only hope has led to the dismissal of the tailor responsible.

All in all, it was one more successful step in the ascension of Mr. Todd's fashion journey from disheveled wonk to sleek professorial media star.

A big "gracias" to VivaChuckTodd.tv
field fashion correspondent, Devon O'Toole

If It's a Primary, That Means It's Chuck Todd Tuesday!

Sporting a snappy navy blue pinstripe number, Chuck threw out the numbers as only he could do; authoritatively with both wit and sagacity belying his youth. Though underneath it all, experienced Chuck Todd watchers could see him desperately trying to get people to listen to him through veiled statements based on electoral mathematics and prognostication that Senator Clinton's chances are virtually nil and that she is being a petulant and disruptive harpy anxiously trying to jettison her remaining dignity. Or I could be projecting.

Things in fact got a little tense with Howard Fineman early in the evening on Hardball with Chris Matthews when he vociferously disagreed with Fineman on the motives of the pain in the ass Senator form New York. Howard sees her going full-blown Machiavellian and becoming cavalier and disingenuous in her efforts to help get Obama elected in the general thus paving an easier road for her in 2012. Chuck T shook his head while in split-screen and visibly disagreed with the ultimate election season name-dropper Fineman. Chuck felt that although devious, the Clintons could no way allow themselves to be seen as spoilers to the ascension of Obama. Here here Chuck. As always you're right on the money...bravo.

A little later, our crazy uncles Matthews and Olbermann stumbled into introducing Chuck with all the elegance of a drunk pissing off a deck in high seas by making some kind of weak segue out of "election numbers" and some nonsense about the "naked truth", that was soon twisted into a joke by Keith about Chuck's new show "By The Naked Truth with Chuck Todd". I think I speak for everyone who reads this blog; we love the Chuckster, but man, "naked" and "Chuck Todd" should never be imagined together, even in jest.