CBS finally jumped the shark (and couch)....

[skooooo]

...by hiring Katie Couric for evening news anchor. What do you all think?

[wordpix]

1. I think Katie can handle the hard news as well as fluff pieces. Whether

or not she can actually dig up the news and will ask the questions that should be asked is another thing.

[BlooInBloo]

3. You're close to on your own then....

lol

Just out of curiousity: What in her past so much as suggests she has either the ability or the inclination to seriousness?

The glasses?

LOL

[Squatch]

2. Really, I don't understand why people even care.

She's just a talking head

[Dinger]

5. She Sure Is. Fuck Her. I Was Dan Rather, Period! (nr)

[SoCalDem]

8. I NEVER watch "network news"..

Probably caught Jennings 2 or 3 times..Rather about the same.. and NEVER brokaw..

Judging by the fall odff in ratings, lots of people don't watch anymore.

[skooooo]

15. Sheiffer's ratings were WAY up...

...which tells me that people want a serious, experienced person doing the news -- not someone who helped Matt Lauer with his "Where in the World..." series.

[skooooo]

9. Sheiffer wasn't a talking head

He had experience in the field, but had the knowledge and wisdom to know how to present material, etc. Katie will just read whatever is put in front of her and then go home. I don't like this development because it's just one more example of the breakdown of journalism.

[Canuckistanian]

36. LOL. Just like a female Ron Burgundy!

She'll read ANYTHING on that teleprompter.

[Zookeeper]

4. They'll have to redesign the set...

so she can continue to display her Manolo B. shoes.

It will be very hard to take Katie Couric seriously.

[lutefisk]

24. You are probably correct, sadly enough.

I haven't seen a morning show in at least 6 years, but isn't one of the conventions of those shows to display the legs and feet of the women on the show? If CBS starts using the peep show approach to the evening news, well, I just don't know what that means- but it's not good.

[Zookeeper]

43. Yes...

from what I've seen the legs, high-heeled shoes and perky smiles are the focus of the morning shows.

[Lorien]

44. I can't think of anyone from a morning entertainment show who should

be doing the evening news; they're all lightweights, and that's why they're doing cooking segments on morning TV! Some of my local anchor men and women would make better replacements, and that ain't saying much.

[UTUSN]

6. Funniest line: "You'd think (pResident Shrub) had come out of the closet"

from Bernard McJERK on the sL-IMUS circus, referring to the big deal being made of the announcement. His first line was, "You'd think they had caught binLaden or something."

(Since my thread on this didn't go anywhere.)

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. I am all done watching CBS - on to ABC

I just don't like Katie Couric - I can't even tell you why.

[BobRossi]

7. Just another nail in the coffin.

"News" from any mainstream outlet has been dead for nearly 10 years. Move on.

[DrGonzoLives]

10. News anchors are nothing more than narrators

All they have to do is look nice and read the teleprompter. The days of the anchor being an actual "journalist" died a long time ago.

[skooooo]

11. Not true..

Rather wasn't like that, Jennings wasn't like that.

[DrGonzoLives]

14. Once, yes

But they're also both gone.

[SoCalDem]

12. bobbleheaded prompter-readers

:)

[skooooo]

18. But WHY did they do it?

WIth Sheiffer's ratings up, it would seem like they would get the hint that people want someone like that to deliver and vet the news.

[DrGonzoLives]

28. I'm sure they're going to argue "demographics"

The underestimation of the viewing public continues - I'm sure CBS executives are thinking "Gee, if we have a woman anchor, more women will watch!"

[WinkyDink]

45. Wrong-o! I like to watch a handsome man *coughJohnRobertscough* myself!

And back in the day, Dan was The Man!! ;)

[SoCalDem]

31. They are planning for the FUTURE..Schieffer is "old"

gray hair is OUT..blonde streaks and perky are IN.. Never mind the news.. they just want filler for between the commercials anyway

[Brazenly Liberal]

16. It seems like a peculiar choice for the network of Murrow and Cronkite

But I haven't watched network news in so long, I have no idea just how far they've already strayed from real news reporting.

[Warpy]

17. I hope they have a probationary peiod written into that contract

because I don't think she'll be able to make the transition from perky girl next door on a morning show to doing hard news at night. Her persona is all wrong for the job and I don't think she'll make the changes necessary to be acceptable to the evening audience.

It's Deborah Norville in reverse. Norville's persona was all hard news, and people used to Pauley's next girl persona rejected her quite vehemently. The same will be true of Couric. She's gonna bomb.

[skooooo]

22. I agree she's going to bomb..

I haven't heard one positive thing from anyone about her. WHy not Diane Sawyer, if they wanted a woman?

[valerief]

19. I think they need an accomplished Bush apologist news anchor

But how will Letterman handle it?

[skooooo]

23. What's with Letterman and Couric?

[valerief]

27. Letterman has some great anti-* bits

Couric is a rabid Bush apologist, as is proven by her Today Show interviews. They're kinda like oil and water. Can Letterman make fun of her, I wonder.

[Skarbrowe]

20. I think it's a silly idea. She just isn't they type of person you want

your major nightly news from. But, maybe they realize the usual nightly news set-ups are on the wane. Why not put a cutzie feather weight in what was once one of the most important news slots in the country? So many other people could have filled this slot. I really like Lester Holt from NBC as a news reader if that's all they wanted. I would have watched him every night. How about Christiane Amanpour? Not that she would want the job.

A lot of people are getting their news from cable or the internet.

For people who don't use either of those, it looks like Brian Williams, unfortunately, will get better ratings than ever.

edited for mispelling someone's name I should never mispell..

[AzDar]

21. Absolutely NO credibility. I can't imagine why she was chosen.. n/t

[bluedog]

25. I used to watch CBS news

but I refuse to watch an airhead..........

[Radio_Guy]

26. Jon Stewart would have been better

Even Bill Maher would be more credible than Katie Couric. *shrug* I seldom watch network news anyway. I get 95% of my news from the 'net.

[dchill]

29. What do I think?

I think we're a long, long way down the hill from Edward R. Murrow - or Dan Rather for that matter. CBS News must just be tired of all the fact-checking, fairness, honesty and all that other junk that needs to be in place to have a news operation. They're just gonna have Katie do a cutesie-patriot act every night and try to forget about that other shit.

The problem is, Katie ain't that cute and Katie ain't that patriotic. She's just a personal shill for the Bushes. Not to mention that any way you slice it, she's not much of a journalist. Wouldn't it be great if that mattered?

[rwork]

30. I can't imagine her

doing a tough story on 60 minutes.

[Beausoir]

32. I think this is a disastrous move for CBS. Ratings boost short-lived.

John Roberts would have been a much better choice.

There isn't a person in the world who can take Katie Couric seriously as a journalist or a broadcaster...except for Katie Couric.

There will be a ratings boost of the gawking-at-a-car-accident variety..and then I predict a serious slide.

[bigluckyfeet]

47. John Roberts has Moved to

CNN!

[leftchick]

33. she will make a great newsbunny!

isn't that what they want?

[dweller]

34. sing along ya'll ...

...
We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing
When it's said and done we haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king
Give us dirty laundry


dp

[no_hypocrisy]

35. Until she can prove otherwise, I can't see Katie:

1. on the proverbial rooftops of London during a Blitzkrieg;

2. in the jungles of Vietnam or Cambodia during a guerilla attack;

3. on a tank rolling through the deserts of Iraq with the military;

4. in New Orleans minute-by-minute, waiting for a Category 5 hurricane to hit;

5. getting in the face of the President when he refuses to answer a probing question (stonewalling) to the point where he prematurely ends the interview;

6. being able to get the raw news, analyze it, write it, rewrite it, edit it, and read it without a prompter b/c she created it from scratch that she knows it like her personal history.

Etc. This is a celebrity broadcaster, folks. This is not a journalist. This is not a promotion from being a cub reporter who started by covering meetings of the zoning board in a Pekon, Illinois. This is someone who has the likeability and clout to make people believe whatever the corporation behind the network wants viewers to believe.

That's all. If that's the criteria, they did as well as they could.

[WinkyDink]

46. Except I think they'll find that KC's "likeability" quotient is zero.

It was the "Today Show" that people watched, some, perhaps many, out of habit.
NOT Katie Couric.
IMO.

[GeorgeGist]

37. Vapid comes to mind nt

[Avalux]

38. Unfortunately - it's all about perception

Even if Katie can handle real news, she will always be seen as the cute, giggly hostess of the Today Show. I really have no interest in watching her perform.

[MsUSA]

39. Well, no more CBS for moi........didn't really watch before,

caught sometimes, but now NEVER WILL WATCH CBS AGAIN!! :grr:

[MsUSA]

40. It'll be really fun to see their viewer numbers hit the toilet.....

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Lena inRI]

41. So who wants to know. . .

that you're asking for? A lot of leading posts on this board make me very suspicious of the posters, pumping info out of us for their own advantage. What a sneaky game.

If you REALLY want to know MY OPINION on CBS Nightly News. . .

~network news is irreversibly dying ever since the multidimensional-cross referencing Internet proved to be a far better news source during the past 5 years of major Network-whoring for B* & Company.

~generationally, cyberkids spend more time in front of their computers for info and when they do watch the tv, it's for sheer escapism (American Idol, etc.). . .so no amount of "lightening up" the Nightly News with Couric will matter.

~technologically, the tv will die off (even with the Tivo recording gimmick) because the daily habits of the masses are shifting from "passive viewing place/mode" to "interactive mobility selection" so there goes the "6 pm watch-the=news-routine."

Bye. . bye. . network news and GOOD RIDDANCE. . .YA LYING FILTHY BASTARDS!

:rant:

[LondonReign2]

42. Ahh great

Meg Ryan will now be doing a nightly newscast? Or do I have my perpetually perky gals mixed up?

[flyarm]

48. more entertainment and more dumbing down of America..i couldn't

stand her on Today..i could not watch her then and will not watch her now!!

fly