Aaron Brown, the former CNN anchor who found cable TV an awkward fit, is joining PBS' "Wide Angle" series and ending his on-air absence of more than two years.
His first day at CNN was Sept. 11, 2001, and his heartfelt anchoring from a rooftop in Manhattan immediately thrust him into a major role there. But expectations that he would become the face of the network didn't pan out.
Brown's quirky, cerebral 10 p.m. newscast had a following with fans who enjoyed his commentaries and "The Whip," a quick review of top international stories, but he lost ratings ground to Greta Van Susteren of Fox News Channel.
CNN chose to showcase its hotter personality, Cooper, whose profile had grown in 2005 and peaked during Hurricane Katrina coverage. Brown's time slot went to Cooper and Brown left by what CNN termed mutual agreement.
Reflecting on his time at the channel, Brown said he became "oddly emblematic" of what he termed an "anti-tabloid guy."
"I didn't practice the `high church' of journalism all the time, but I think there was some sense that I was uncomfortable in that other, tabloidy world, and I think viewers knew that and I couldn't pull it off," he said.
Besides serving as anchor of "Wide Angle" and helping prepare episodes for broadcast, Brown plans to do field work on a story, possibly involving Venezuela or the Middle East. Topics to be covered this season include the crisis in the Sudan and the changing role of Japan's military.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/28/aaron-brown-to-return-to_n_98913.htmlI miss Aaron Brown. Glad he'll be back on the tube!