NBC Approached Jon Stewart for MEET THE PRESS

Like his fellow Comedy Central staple Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart could have made the move to broadcast television.

New York magazine reports that NBC actively pursued DAILY SHOW host Stewart to replace David Gregory on its Sunday morning news series. "Three senior television sources with knowledge of the talks" confirmed the news. Chuck Todd eventually landed the job, succeeding Gregory in August.

"The Daily Show" first earned its political stripes during the now-infamous 2000 election, receiving an Emmy(R) Award and a prestigious George Foster Peabody(R) Award for its year-long "Indecision 2000" coverage of the race for the White House, achievements repeated during the series' "Indecision 2004" election reporting.

"The Daily Show" airs Monday-Thursday at 11:00 p.m. and repeats at 1:00 a.m. the same night and at 9:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. the following day (all times ET/PT). Full episodes, as well as clips, are posted for viewing the following day at www.thedailyshow.com with URL and embed links. Fans can follow @TheDailyShow on Twitter or "like" The Daily Show on Facebook.

"Meet the Press" is America's most-watched and No. 1 Sunday morning public affairs broadcast. Every Sunday morning for 62 years, millions of Americans tune in to get answers from U.S. and world leaders, and hear analysis, discussion and review of the week's political events from noted journalists and experts. Acclaimed by conservatives and liberals, newsmakers and television critics, "Meet the Press" consistently makes Monday morning headlines and has become the most quoted television program in the world.

Established as a half-hour program, "Meet the Press" expanded to one hour on September 20, 1992. The current format consists of one to three interview segments featuring guests and newsmakers of national and international importance, often followed by today's leading journalists and NBC News' correspondents engaging in a roundtable discussion.

"Meet the Press" is the longest-running program on network television, having made its NBC-TV debut on November 6, 1947. It premiered two years earlier as a radio program with Lawrence E. Spivak, one of the pioneers in broadcasting, as producer and regular panelist. (He retired from the program 30 years later, in November 1975.) With a landmark edition on February 2, 1997, "Meet the Press" continued its tradition of broadcast leadership by becoming the first network television program to broadcast live in digital high-definition.

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