Couric about to get dumped by NBC ? (not just bird droppings)

[katinmn]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-0602080039feb08,1,2128212.column?coll=chi-business-col

Phil Rosenthal
Hard sledding for new co-host of the Olympics
Published February 8, 2006

snip
NBC has announced that Williams--not "Today" star Katie Couric--will be Bob Costas' co-host for Friday night's Winter Olympics opening ceremony from Turin, Italy, kicking off 418 hours of coverage through Feb. 26 on NBC and its cable sisters that it hopes will reap $900 million in ad sales.
snip

One could take this at face value.

Another possibility is that NBC would rather give Williams this prime-time exposure because Couric might well leave the network for "The CBS Evening News" in a few months.

(Never mind that her departure might be welcomed in some NBC circles, as it would enable "Today" to make a far more graceful transition to a younger co-host than the disastrous Jane Pauley-to-Deborah Norville handoff of 1989, back when Ebersol was running "Today.")

----------

Phil Rosenthal's column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

[LSparkle]

1. It's also a SPORTING event and Couric is notoriously clueless

about sports. If ABC were covering the Olympics -- oh how I wish! What is ice skating without DICK BUTTON's commentary? -- they could let Robin Roberts handle co-anchoring because she's not as ditsy as KittyKatie.

[katinmn]

2. Clueless and as skilled as a Bush appointee. Examples:

Let Mr. Nightly News read the scripted, awards-show-quality banter or strain for an ad lib or whatever it was that led Couric to utter at the opening of the Athens Games in 2004, "Iraqi athletes have a tortured past--literally."

What will Williams do with the kind of material prepared for Couric four years ago at the Salt Lake City Games, when she noted New Zealand was where "Lord of the Rings" was filmed, but there would be "no Hobbits marching tonight."

Will he balk at lines like Couric's 2002 crack that Brazil and its bobsledders, outfitted with a yellow sled, called themselves "the Frozen Banana, it seems unlikely their pursuit here will be a fruitful one"?

:rofl:

[mattclearing]

7. That's brilliant.

I never knew Katie was so punny.

[jane_pippin]

8. Dear lord! PLEASE don't give this idiot the anchor chair at CBS

PLEASE.

She's such an idiot, it's almost unfathomable.

Those quotes are hilarious, however.

[Bridget Burke]

10. Let me second that....

I find the CBS evening news the most palatable of the Big 3. Couric would definitely drive me away.

[tanyev]

20. What? You don't want a major network news anchor

who wears short skirts, backless shoes, crosses her legs and swings the top one with the shoe half hanging off all during an interview of a serious subject? Swear to God I saw it. The only thing missing was chewing gum.

:banghead:

[jane_pippin]

25. Only in my dreams, baby. Only in my dreams.

Or, in Katie's case, nightmares.

I believe you saw it. I used to watch the Today show every morning specifically to rile me up in the morning and to get all wound up in an effort to start my day with some energy. Somewhere in the last election cycle it just got to be too much even for me. I tolerated the colonoscopy, I tolerated the halloween costumes, I tolerated busting out into a perky tune every now and again. But one of the things that put me over the edge, (beyond the general inanity and conservative bent), was one day she had to read the phrase "the die has been cast" off of the teleprompter. Katie then became flustered and confused, having never heard that phrase before, evidently. She made some "I'm the queen of everything" kind of comment about how they needed better writers, (ok, granted, but not for the reason she thinks), because "die" should have been spelled "dye."

:rofl:

I mean, I guess I could see if you're just a regular person and you don't know it. But then, if you're a regular person chances are you or a relative might actually work where the die gets cast, so maybe regular people would know it. Anyway, I say if your pampered ass gets paid to read things into the camera then at least take a moment to peruse them once before you get on the tee vee and act like you're the Queen of Sheba. It's literally the least you can do.


Ok. Rant over.

[rurallib]

4. Do you suppose Williams is any smarter about sports?

I never watch NBC since he admitted to listening to drugRush every day. Here's an idea - how about OLBERMAN. Rumor is he knows something about sports and can do very well extemporaneously.

[LSparkle]

5. I agree about Williams -- and Olbermann would be a NATURAL

Talk about an "underused asset." Why not ditch Williams and have Costas and KO do the honors? (THAT would be decent coverage.)

[gkhouston]

9. Olbermann would be an obvious choice

So of course NBC won't do it. :eyes:

[buff2]

6. He listens to Lush Limpball????

Geesus H. Khrist....we just can't get away from all the stench from Lush Lardass can we? His stench is all over just about everyone on TV. :puke:

[LSparkle]

12. When he got the anchor gig, he said it was his "duty" to listen

because "Rush has such an impact on the country." Guess you can't tell "America's Story" without getting the ESSENTIAL Limbag perspective ...

:puke:

[KamaAina]

16. "Rush has such an impact on the country"

Every times he gets wasted on Oxy and falls down, the "impact" throws the entire Earth a fraction of an inch off its axis!

[TahitiNut]

28. It's more like "Rush has an impact UNDER the country" ...

... a bit like a turd beneath an outhouse. :shrug:

[rurallib]

14. Stench - what a perfect word for limpballs

do you suppose that's why Kagan dumped him? She's more of a man than him anyway.

[buff2]

3. Katie has been on the today show for too long anyway

I get tired of seeing the same old worn out faces day after day. I finally quit watching the Today show because of her. I couldn't handle watching her trying to act all cutesy and giggling all the time. She thinks she's all that and a bag of chips,but in reality she's just an old crumpled up used bag.

I can't figure out why these people hang on for years and years....then when you think they are gone,they pop up on another network. It's like musical chairs with those fools. :puke:

[Pathwalker]

11. Well, CBS Evening News will lose another viewer, then.

You couldn't pay me to watch her - yuck!

[Warpy]

13. Couric is WAY over 40 and she's starting to grate on a lot of folks

who want the people on their TV screens to be universally young, fit and attractive.

They'll make her an offer she can't refuse, devote a whole morning to a tribute to her, and then bring in the next sweet young thing who is so grateful for the job that she'll be perfectly happy to slant the news anyway GE wants her to.

[rurallib]

15. Over 40? Ya' talking age or IQ?

That 40+ IQ in an anchor can be a real turnoff.

[Bridget Burke]

24. We all grow older....

But some of us grow wiser, as well.

[Aristus]

17. I turned the "Today" show off years ago.

Katie Couric, with that grotesque grin and empty head, really got on my nerves. And this was BEFORE she started spreading her legs for the B*sh administration.

So long, Katie. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

[asjr]

18. I just want someone with brains, no matter the age. I want

real unbiased coverage. They seem to think the viewer has no sense. They constantly play down to us. A condescending manner of a "news" reporter lets us know exactly where they are coming from.

[katinmn]

19. TV is dominated by beauty or brawn but few brains

TV newscasts show little respect for peoples' intelligence. Some of that has to do with the merger of marketing and journalism in J school. They de-emphasize ethics and emphasize sensationalism to hook viewers.

[0007]

26. There's a brain drain in today's media. Are you kidding.

They'll replace her with another just like her except in looks and youth and just as dumb.

[WI_DEM]

21. With the gossip that she will go to CBS they don't want to give her

unneccessary exposure.

[AX10]

22. CBS News will lose another view if they hire Couric.

[KansDem]

23. Damn! Does this mean she won't "get back to us"

...about the CNN "Democrats took money from Abramoff" lie?

Damn! And this is Week 3!

[TahitiNut]

27. Will Brian Williams be able to distinguish one black athlete from another?

Or will they all look like Harold Ford to him? :dunce: :silly:

Hopefully, they'll wear numbers so Mr. Williams is spared the conundrum. :eyes: