TVSquad

It's been less than a year since Couric took the anchor chair. She has not been even able to get her feet completely wet. I think because she is a she that America is not ready for some reason. Give Katie another year or two and then make a decision on her abilities.

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It's all about Gravitas.

Unfortunately, Couric, as talented as she is, has none whatsoever.

It's just not in her nature, she is much better cast as a morning talk show host. And that is not necessarily a knock on her.

The big question is who could replace her? CBS would most likely have to find the right talent elsewhere.

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Whenever I watch her news I feel like I'm in kindergarten and the teacher is telling me slowly not to put my finger in the outlet. It goes back to MacGuffin said about gravitas, all she does is slow it down and smile alot which does absolutely nothing for evening news like it used to work on the today show.

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MacGuffin, I totally agree: it's all about "Gravitas". Katie just seems too fluffy to do hard core news. I appreciate her talents, but they're not suited to an evening news anchor position. And I'm not saying that because Katie's a woman. I think Leslie Stahl or any of the women on PBS' "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" would be excellent choices.

Re: giving Katie more time because she hasn't been here in the chair for a year yet ... I don't know. Charles Gibson has been in his anchor chair for roughly the same time and is doing a great job. I think that by this time, an anchor would have found his/her stride, enough to show viewers what they're like and from this point on, they refine their style.

Just my two cents ... I couldn't do what they do if they paid me a zillion dollars!!

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If they wait until after the 2008 election cycle it will kill CBS News. They need to replace her now. It was a bad move to hire her in the first place and many not in the TV news industry new it. To bad more in the industry didn't.

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Exactly who watches weeknight network news? I'd be interested to see the demographic: older people who don't have cable or access to the internet? The audience probably overlaps with that of "Murder, She Wrote" and "Matlock" reruns.

It's because of all the attention given to the ratings of the network news that the shows have become "infotainment" junk. A minute on the war, a natural disaster somewhere, a piece on drug research (usually completely overhyped to "a pill to cure cancer?" or "eat all you want with a new diet pill?"), toss in a celebrity scandal and roll credits.

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I know I'm in the unhip minority but I still enjoy the network evening news. There's so much clutter from all the other news outlets that it's interesting to see what the major news organizations are suggesting should be the important stories (even if I don't agree). I know the evening news has become fluffier and fluffier since the days of Cronkite but there's often more real news in that one half hour than two hours of CNN.

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I had to look up what I'd said before about the original announcement:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/04/02/breaking-news-katie-couric-set-to-move-to-cbs/#c1361024
and then later...
http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/10/18/i-owe-katie-couric-an-apology/#c2463298
before I commented again here.

Everytime I make predictions, they turn out a bit hokey, but hey, that's the nature of the game.

It's not a matter of gravitas so much as a requirement that people need a reason to pay attention to the newsreader.

Attempting to create some sort of "star" out of Couric was a failed venture at best. True, they couldn't get her without the big payday and all the baggage that those expectations carried around with it. And putting just any old correspondent in the chair seemed, well, just plain desperate.

Vargas proved it could be done, so it's not like America isn't ready for a female news anchor -- but I think it takes a special sort to handle the nationwide nightly news, and nowadays, that simply doesn't mean a person with a pedigree in news.

If I was CBS, I'd take the first "medical" leave that Kouric has coming to her and rotate a bunch of newbie types in there, much in the way David Letterman did with the slot that Craig Ferguson is now occupying. But that would take the admission that the news anchor desk takes an intelligent person, but not necessarily one that has been on the White House beat for the last 15 years.

Nowadays, the person behind the news anchor desk better be able to smile AND have a sense of humor. Call it the "Jon Stewart effect", call it what you like. That person DOES have to have the ability to go from one serious topic to another and yes, show a little "gravitas". You don't have to have the news anchor crack jokes, but you do have to have the ability to do a respectful "smirk".

Oh, yeah, one more thing: If the news anchor gives an Op-Ed, make damn sure the anchor wrote it.

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Cut her loose. She's not a good replacement. She's not stoic enough.

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hmm.. wow, poor Katie..
But I'm watching CBS News for the first time in years (well actually my Tivo is).

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She is a ultra liberal bitch. She should be replaced by a middle of the pack reporter so most middle Americans can watch CBS without feeling sick.

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The problem may not be the choice of Couric, but CBS's approach in general. This column is dated in some respects (March 05), but I still think it's advice the network should have taken:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110006363

Because its author is Peggy Noonan, who brings an element of partisanship to her comments, half the people here will reject it out of hand -- but her thoughts on the way to restructure CBS News had nothing to do with right or left.

The best excerpt is this one:

"They should hire a reasonable journalist at a reasonable price and then build a sterling, stellar broadcast around him. They should save the money they'd spend on a star and put it in the show. ... People in America like to find stars on their own. Let them."

Come to think of it, Bob Schieffer fit the mold pretty nicely.

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It was a mistake to put Katie Couric in the anchor chair for the evening news. The show is almost painful to watch. There are many other possibilities which could do better.

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Bring Aaron Brown to CBS! He is nowhere to be seen since CNN fired him two years ago. They replaced him with Anderson Cooper - the stupidest decision as it turned out, since his show has low ratings. Brown worked at ABC News, substituted for Ted Koppel, has enough gravitas and a good wry sense of humor. He also was excellent while reporting on 2000 presidential elections and 9/11 disaster.

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CBS made their first mistake when they decided not to promote from within - the obvious choice to replace Dan Rather was John Roberts who was being groomed for the job in much the same way that Rather and Roger Mudd had been groomed as replacements for Cronkite. And if they wanted to break new ground by having a woman as sole anchor there were good choices at CBS.

Having decided to go outside the organization to get a woman, CBS made their second mistake by not going for a solid news oriented choice, but for a personality. Christianne Amanpour from CNN (and who has done some work for "60 Minutes") would have been a great choice. So would Dianne Sawyer who, though she is currently known as a morning show host, was a first rate journalist at CBS.

Here's the thing though - you can't blame Katie Couric on Katie Couric. If you want to put the blame on anyone put it on CBS News boss Sean McManus, who had previously been head of CBS Sports (and in sports broadcasting reporting ability is secondary to personality). He was the one who decided that the CBS Evening News needed a "personality" rather than a journalist as it's public face. He was the one who rejected John Roberts and all the internal candidates and went after Couric and paid her the big bucks rather than either spending the same money on a beefed up staff behind a less well paid host, or finding a personality who was also a solid journalist.

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I believe Katie was great at what she did with the Today Show..I feel she is a talented TV Host and journalist..BUT she is too friendly and bubbly and it just comes naturally to her to be a friendly person..doing the NIghtly News is like really serious..and I think clashes with her personality..I say put her on the morning show! She would do great again:) Thanks

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The biggest mistake Katie Couric ever made was leaving the "Today" show. She is at her best ad-libbing and interacting with another anchor such as Matt Lauer, as well as interviewing interesting personalities and film stars. What she is not good at is sitting in front of a teleprompter just reading lines. If CBS is thinking of taking her off the CBS evening news, then that would be the right decision. Sorry Katie but you blew it when you left NBC.

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EGO! Bad decision on both sides! She was perfect where she was at!

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I never thought she would be good on the evening news. I never liked her on the morning show.

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Thew problem isn't Couric. The problem is CBS. The other two networks have stronger ratings heading into the news, meaning their local news shows. NBC is a jugernaut and ABC has solidly been in second for a while. Third is nothing new for the CBS Evening News. The problem may be that people thought that she would turn that around over night. When CBS does better in their news division as a whole, including the affiliates, then the evening news ratings will follow.

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