TVSquad

(Part 4 of 5)

Katie.

Meredith.

Rosie.

They all made big news and big career moves that changed the face of some very popular programs. This whole domino effect started in April, when Katie Couric announced the "worst kept secret in television" that she was going to replace Bob Schieffer as the sole anchor of the CBS Evening News. She spent her summer conducting town hall meetings with regular folk to find out what they want in a national newscast. And her first broadcast made worldwide news because she debuted Vanity Fair's photographs of the elusive daughter of Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise. The excitement over Katie lasted for about a week.

Almost as soon as Katie Couric announced her departure from Today, Meredith Vieira announced she was departing The View to take Katie's spot. It was a departure, of sorts, for a morning news program to place someone like Vieira into a co-host position. While Vieira was a journalist for 60 Minutes, that was long ago. She's spent the last nine years as the moderator of The View, chatting mostly about celebrity gossip and sex with her husband. She also hosted the game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? But, it turns out a personality like hers works for Today. She doesn't pretend to be a high-minded journalist all the time... but she can be when she needs to.

While Meredith and Katie have settled into their roles rather uneventfully, Rosie O'Donnell is another story. When Meredith left The View, Rosie took her place at the table as moderator of the mid-morning chatfest. Ever since then she can't keep out of the headlines. On her very first day on The View, she talked about taking a bath with her daughter and her daughter asking when she was going to get her "fur". Niiiice. That pretty much set the tone. She doesn't blow smoke up anybody's ass (okay- maybe she does it to Elisabeth Hasselbeck, but that's because they need to get along). Since joining the program, she has had feuds with Kelly Ripa, Donald Trump and the entire country of China.

Looking at where these three women are after four months at their new jobs, I'd say the only person who's going to be around for a long time is Meredith Vieira. She's doing a fine job as Today co-host and the American public seems to like her. Ratings for Today went up when Meredith joined in September and they have remained elevated ever since. While Katie's newscast saw a bump in ratings, it only lasted about a week and she has been down behind Brian Williams and Charles Gibson ever since-- the same problem that CBS suffered when Dan Rather hosted for all those years. And Rosie's mouth may get her in so much trouble that Barbara Walters will un-invite her to the table. Then again, those controversial headlines may be a reason to keep Rosie around because they definitely bring in the viewers. It probably depends on how long the list gets of people who refuse to be guests on The View because of her.