CBS tries to lure Couric from NBC's 'Today'-report

[sabra]

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=1367412

CBS tries to lure Couric from NBC's 'Today'-report
Reuters

Dec 2, 2005 — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - CBS is trying to change the face of network news by luring Katie Couric, co-host of NBC's top-rated morning show "Today," to the evening news anchor seat vacated by Dan Rather, the Los Angeles Times said on Friday.

Citing senior editorial staffers at both networks, the Times said newly installed CBS News President Sean McManus had determinedly wooed Couric in recent weeks to take over as permanent anchor of the CBS Evening News and that Couric was seriously considering such a move.

CBS and NBC both declined comment on the story. Media reports began circulating in January that CBS executives had made overtures to Couric to lure her away from NBC to the CBS Evening News desk.

Taking Rather's spot would make Couric the first woman named as the sole permanent anchor of a major network evening newscast, unless ABC's Elizabeth Vargas beats her to the punch. Vargas, a "20/20," host, has filled in on a regular basis for the late Peter Jennings at ABC's World News Tonight and is regarded as a candidate to permanently replace him.

[Loonman]

1. She'll fit right in on SeeBS

CBS news bureau has been a pathetic joke since Cronkite left. I've never liked Rather, the prick.

[HereSince1628]

2. Well, I don't watch CBS anymore, anyway.

In her own words from the 2004 election...does SHE have the gravitas to fill that position?

Uh, hmmmmmmmmm, ah....No probably not.

[gordianot]

3. Wonder what Edward R. Murrow would say about the quality......

of her journalism?

I have my opinion. :puke:

[dflprincess]

35. If CBS hires her,

the rate at which Murrow will spin in his grave will probably cause an earthquake.

I wonder what Walter Cronkite thinks about this.

[gordianot]

38. Cronkite already has a low opinion CBS broke too many promises..

CBS had it all, and they totally abandoned Cronkite.

[Neecy]

48. we already know what she, herself, thinks of her 'journalism'

Any serious journalist - if any truly exist under the Bush regime - would have taken the insipid, childish script they were handed for the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, realized it made them sound as dumb as a bag of hair, and immediately said, "Not a chance. Not a fucking chance."

Couric not only read it on-air, but was giddy with joy over sounding like a two year old. It was as disturbing to watch as it was to listen to.

Remember when she got a brief flurry of publicity for being a 'tough interviewer'? Let's see...when was that? Oh, right! During the Clinton administration. Notice how you haven't heard this about her for oh, around five and a half years - ever since little junior beanpot announced his candidacy. She still on occasion will grill a Democrat (although most of this is left to her creepy morning henchman) but as far as being a 'journalist' - oh, how I'd laugh at this nightmare if only it weren't our current reality.

[Jane Austin]

4. Yuk. I'd have to take an insulin injection if I had to watch her for

30 minutes - - and I'm not even diabetic.

She's way to syrupy and smarmy for me.

I wonder if they've bothered to do any focus groups on this move?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. Focus groups probably would like it....

There's such a blur across journalism and infotainment and entertainment there just aren't many critical news consumers left.

Me, I think Katie's fine where she is and I don't fault her success, but if she was ever a real journalist she sold out a long time ago.
The CBS anchor chair should reject her butt like a bottle of holy water reacts with Linda Blair.

[PassingFair]

7. Funny!

A puglican couple I know DESPISE Couric. They think she is a mastermind of "the liberal media"!

LOL.

I know this because I once stopped the woman in the middle of a tirade and asked her, "Just who IS this liberal media you keep blaming for spreading propaganda".

She sputtered and had nothing to say, so I helped her out (I'm nice that way) "Like Al Franken?", I say.

"Yeah"

"Who else", I say.

"Katie Couric!", she pronounces.

:eyes:

There you have it. Katie Couric, rabid liberal propagandist.

[Upfront]

5. She is

A rethug whore! CBS was the last nightly news I could gag! Dam!!!!

[shance]

8. who. cares.

n/t

[Sequoia]

9. Good lord, no!

She's embarssing.

[Jane Austin]

16. That's what I was looking for! Embarrassing.

That's what she is.

[tsuki]

10. Re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic News Services.

[screembloodymurder]

11. She won't leave. Her boyfriend is the co-anchor.

She's in love.

[zann725]

12. Gawd, no! Leave KKKatie on mornings in that "Yet Another Day"-style

show she does so pukingly-well (as Colbert's Show now parodies).

[leftchick]

13. they lost yet anther household of viewers over this one...

I may have to get satellite to find real news in some other country. Like Canada.

[tabasco]

14. Time to turn off the telescreens.

While we still have the choice.

Corporate media news is garbage whore propaganda.

[Raine]

15. Couric is

too perky.x(

[Catchawave]

17. I think the "Today" hours works better

for spending time with her girls and their activities since they're pre- and teenaged now. I'm betting she doesn't make the move!

[zann725]

42. It's easier to ignore, tune Kkkkatie out in early morning hours.

Put her in prime-time, and her Stepford perkiness will be harder to avoid. As it is, there are far too many blonde anchors in primetime...among them Rita Cosby (whose voice alone sends cats screeching, and babies crying from the room).

[AX10]

18. I'll take Scheiffer over Couric (if given the choice).

She's a 100% mediawhore. The Today Show is such shit anyways, she should stay with them where she belongs.

[VegasWolf]

19. Jon Stewart would be my choice.

:bounce:

[BjohnsonMN]

33. It is a sad day when the host of a comedy show is the best journalist...

on television in America. That really is the case today though, I learn more in the first twenty minutes of the Daily Show than I could learn from watching CNN from morning to night. Jon Stewart is the only television newscaster that will actually challenge the administration, and that is sad. We sure are fortunate we at least have him though.

[calimary]

44. Either him, or Keith Olbermann.

If one of the "big three" networks REALLY wanted to make a break, and try something different, and veer off the decades-old formula a little to appeal to contemporary times, they might just consider this. Keith Olbermann would be GREAT! Lots of credibility on the serious stories, and the perfect amount of mirth with everything else. I bet their numbers would go up if they did something really different. If not them, then ABC. Katie Couric is just too nauseating. I used to like her, once upon a time, when she proved that brunettes could get ahead in morning television, but like all the rest of 'em, she sold her soul. I'd need an evening news anchor I could respect. AND believe.

[BjohnsonMN]

47. Yes, I forgot about him

I don't get to watch Olbermann very often, but when I have seen him he has been great.

[MGKrebs]

20. Alas, I long for a day when we watch the news to see the news,

and the personality of the person reading the news is such that we can't even remeber who they are, until 20 years later, we say, "damn, that person has done a fine job of reading the news for 20 years."

I have not yet been able to forgive the Today Show for interviewing the mother of a kid who got killed in a schoolyard shooting in Scotland a few years ago- the next morning. Of course I cannot understand why the mother would give the interview, and I hate that we apparently want to watch it, but they didn't have to do it.

Now it happens all the time, on all the morning shows. There is a certain time slot, I think it's about 20 minutes after the top of the hour, where they roll out the mother/wife/friend of a victim of a tragedy.

I am getting better at switching channels. This morning, there was a Perry Mason movie from 1934 with Mary Astor. Very cool cars and decor.

[Olney Blue]

21. I don't understand her appeal.

:shrug:

[ingac70]

27. On Thanksgiving....

That morning I was with my grandmother watching TV at a rehab hospital (she is recovering from a stroke).

Katie Curic was interviewing Claire Danes about her new movies and would ask her a question, then wouldn't let her get a word in edge wise.

My Mammaw said " I wish that goofball would shut up and let that little girl talk!".

[Olney Blue]

40. Mammaw nailed it! That's one of the things I really can't

stand about Katie.

I hope her recovery goes well- rehab is alot of hard work- I recently helped my mother-in-law during a hip replacement at a rehab hospital.

Best wishes!

[JerseygirlCT]

22. When I saw her sitting on Matt Lauer's lap and giggling on the

show, I knew I could never, ever take her seriously again.

I don't think she's right for this job. There might have been a time when she could have gone in that direction. But I think she went another way and it's too late to change that now.

Vargas might work...

[upi402]

23. We demand our Wonderbread and CheezWhiz sammiches!

Give me my- ... -oh nevermind, who's J-Lo screwing these days? Any missing strippers or white chicks?

[leesa]

24. Why would anyone want her? A brainless talking head.

[upi402]

25. nice hair?

[Canuckistanian]

26. Lure her? What is she, a fish?

And what kind of lure do they use? A Rappala? A Lucky Strike? A Hula Popper? Or does she go for the Mepps spinners?

Also, they should realize that luring is best done early in the morning or at dusk, usually the height of feeding time.

She probably likes to hide in the weeds, so a slow troll along the shore can entice her out. Although she could be a bottom feeder, in which case a jigger should be used.

Hope this helps!

[BjohnsonMN]

28. The Today show is no different than the National Enquirer

Anyone who considers anybody on the Today show to be a journalist does not know what journalism is. Unless you consider the lady cheering because she drove from North Carolina to shop in New York to be newsworthy, then there is nothing that can be learned from the Today show. The entire show is made to make people ignorant, it is almost as bad as Fox. Katie Couric is no journalist, she is one of the many stains that exists on our so called "news media".

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

30. Welcome to DU, BjohnsonMN.

[BjohnsonMN]

31. Thanks

:hi:

[calimary]

46. Welcome to DU!

The evening news is really not a place for "perky." It really isn't.

Glad you're here. Help us

Visualize IMPEACHMENT!!!!!!
And then go DO something about it.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

29. Here's the truth:

Katie's deal is up or just about up.

PR/Negotiation.

[last_texas_dem]

32. Blah

CBS was always my favorite of the network newscasts with Rather hosting, and I don't mind Schieffer, either. If they shift to exclusively info-tainment with Couric as the host and it works, it will just give NBC and ABC excuses to do the same, and with Koppel leaving Nightline, etc., ugh... TV "journalism" will be looking even sadder.

[high density]

34. yuuck!!!

Please no, don't pollute CBS with General Electric crap.

[1932]

36. Evening news needs levity? Dumbing the world down, you rock!

[tonekat]

37. We used to watch the Today show every morning

Sure, it wasn't great, as far as anything of depth went, but it was a longtime ritual held over from my parents household.
We stopped watching it in 2003, the day the Iraq invasion commenced. I knew the cheerleader and the haircut guy would just be all rah-rah for the (failed) Bush admins colossal mistake.
It's NPR in the mornings ever since.

[NJCher]

39. I was thinking about that, too

The Today Show used to handle serious national issues. It made people think. Is it ever pathetic these days. It's such fluff.

I quit watching when they introduced the screamers outside on the sidewalks. I can't stand to hear that kind of noise in the mornings.

Occasionally I will tune in at 7 a.m. for the news and because they don't go to commercial for the first 17 minutes or so. Usually it's a disappointment.

Boy, don't try tuning in at 8 for anything similar. At that point you're lucky to even get a minute or two of news.

Katie Couric has, on occasion, expressed sympathetic views to the left side of the spectrum. I don't dislike her although my husband thinks she's not too smart.

She lacks the gravitas required for a news anchor.




Cher

[woo me with science]

41. ick ick ick ick ick ick ick

The sad thing is that right after Rather left I remember hearing some great conversations about how CBS could rebuild the evening news into something really worth watching. Really focus in on the big stories, do more in-depth reporting. Cover all the hard news stories the other networks ignore.

Oh well. It was a nice thought.

[MilesColtrane]

43. I didn't realize the CBS Evening News was going

to start having a celebrity cooking segment.

I like Vargas, and am pulling for her to permanently get the ABC gig.

[Neecy]

45. I like Vargas, too

You have no idea if she's left/right/middle, and that's exactly how it should be. Just the news without any Bush/war cheerleading of the "Navy Seals ROCK!" variety.