What was supposed to be a heartfelt moment for Chuck Todd on his last episode hosting MSNBC’s morning show “The Daily Rundown” turned into an uncomfortable few of minutes of television.
Halfway into his final show on Friday, before leaving to take over as moderator of “Meet the Press,” Todd informed viewers that his producers had arranged a surprise guest to send him off, which at first appeared to be White House press secretary Josh Earnest.
But after a brief exchange, Earnest revealed the true surprise was Todd’s former “Rundown” co-host Savannah Guthrie, who departed in 2011 to join “Today”.
Guthrie, currently on maternity leave for “Today,” was standing by via Skype.
The delay on Skype created problems.
“Well, Miss Mama Guthrie,” Todd began. “Can I call you Mama Guthrie?”
About ten seconds of silence ensued.
“Hi, Chuck,” she responded.
“Hi, Savannah,” he replied.
From there, it got awkward.
The two spoke over each other for several seconds until one of many long silences of the segment took hold. Finally, Guthrie asked, “Do you see all the pictures that we got going?” Todd appeared confused until an image appeared onscreen of him holding Guthrie’s infant daughter.
“She was one beautiful girl,” Todd remarked. “That was one of my favorite days of the year. Was being able to hold your lovely daughter.”
Guthrie did not respond for roughly fifteen seconds, simply staring at the screen, both of them in complete silence.
“Aw,” she finally replied.
For the full awkward experience, watch the clip below:
Sorry, this is not news. It’s “meta” of the fluffiest sort.
You’re right - but maybe it foreshadows the disaster that awaits MTP with Todd as host.
and now MTP with chunk todd as he leads the show into a spectacular crash and burn
Ahhh… Modern 21st century technology…ain’t it great?
I’ve used Skype a million times, including conversations with someone across the planet and I’ve never had delays as bad as are being experienced by this gigantic media company. Really NBC can’t get a live feed going.