The thought I came away with was that it was probably actually a pretty easy interview for him, not because they threw him softballs, but because there's a genuine lack of political sophistication and knowledge from the interviewers, and by extension their audiences.
I think Obama realised it too by the end, and did a reasonable job of not coming off too patronising - except for the movie bit. He could have emphasised that all of their viewers have a voice, but it only counts if they use it.
To me the questions the interviewers planned up front seem reasonably solid - what's missing is anything after Obama's responses. The interviewers don't ask follow-up questions, ask about things the answer omitted, or challenge anything that was in the answer - they just move on to the next question.
Of course it would be a mistake for us to fetishize combative interviews or to say the interviewer must always disagree with the politician regardless of what they say. But if this type of interview is the future of journalism, the interviewers need to get better at asking probing questions on the fly, not just scripted questions they've had months to come up with.
... or the interviews need to last for years.