GREGORY’S DAYS ON MEET THE PRESS APPEAR NUMBERED

Meet the Press moderator David Gregory, who had hosted a Boston Pops concert on Saturday, chartered a plane afterwards to bring him back to Washington for Sunday’s edition of the venerable interview show, Politico.com’s Dylan Byers reported on Monday. Gregory, who originally had planned to take the weekend off, altered his plans after numerous reports during the week had speculated that he was about to be replaced. Byers commented that NBC News executives have been trying to come up with a solution to what they’re calling "the David Gregory problem" with no result as yet. "The host had driven NBC’s once-dominant Sunday show to the bottom of the ratings race. He was widely disliked within the organization, and his ambition and vanity rubbed important colleagues at NBC the wrong way," Byers wrote. "Perhaps most importantly, he didn’t seem all that engaged with politics and policy, the bread and butter of Sunday public affairs programming." Meanwhile, a Meet the Press insider has told the New York Daily News that Gregory is "devastated" by the reports of his impending ouster. "David is ambitious and is embarrassed," the source said. "He’s always aimed up. At one point in his career, he wanted Matt Lauer’s job on Today and almost got it. He plays the game and is politically savvy when it comes to advancing himself. This is a major setback for him." Several reports have indicated that Gregory will be replaced by Chuck Todd within the coming weeks.