TVSquad

There have been approximately 400 stories written about CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric in the past few weeks: she's thinking about leaving, she's getting her lowest ratings ever, etc, etc. And now TV viewers are weighing in on what Katie should do.

A Gallup Poll asked 1,016 adults (I'd love to hear why they come up with such numbers, why they didn't keep calling until it was 1100 or at least stop calling at 1000) what Katie should do. And you know what? 46% of respondents say she should stay as anchor of the show! Where are those viewers when she needs them?

Here are some other results from the poll:

Ever since Don Imus made his little, um, faux pas a while back, viewers have been wondering who will eventually take over his morning slot on MSNBC. Right now they have a rotating group of hosts, including Joe Scarborough, David Gregory, and Jim Cramer, but several execs (including network GM Dan Abrams) have been impressed by Scarborough.

Right now Scarborough hosts a nightly show, Scarborough Country, at 9pm after Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Scarborough will again host the morning program next week, and a decision about a permanent host should be made very soon.

FOX is preparing to launch a new morning show with Mike Jerrick and Juliet Huddy, former weekend co-hosts of Fox and Friends. The new morning show will air at 9am in markets where News Corp. owns the stations. I never watched Fox and Friends, so I can't tell you how entertaining these two hosts are, but FOX is confident that the show will mix well with its other popular morning programming.

Before coming to Fox and Friends, Jerrick hosted specials on HBO and SciFi and was also a co-host on Good Morning Philadelphia. Huddy started at Fox News as a reporter in 1998. According to AP, the new show will use some of the same elements as other shows but also try a few different ideas to set itself apart. Ultimately, however, I think the success of any new daytime talker will come down to how likable the hosts are. You can try all the gimmicks you like, but if the hosts can't endear themselves to the audience, you've already lost.

The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet premiered this morning. If your caught it, I'd like to hear your reaction.

I didn't even know that Syler was a host of The Early Show. How could he be the host of a daily morning talk show on CBS and go around the country, cutting open people's heads and stealing their superpowers?

Actually, it's Rene Syler, one of the 34 co-hosts they have over at The Early Show (last time checked it was Syler, Harry Smith, Hannah Storm, and Julie Chen) is leaving the show to pursue other projects, including a book that will be released this spring. Her last day on the show will be December 22.

Last week, when the new, Meredith Vieira-hosted Today Show debuted with a brand new set, I think I compared it to a Lifetime talk show set. But the people over at Page Six quote an NBC insider who describes it as "a hospital wing." And that's a great description too.

The insider says that Matt and Meredith and the gang really hate the new set and they want it changed. I agree. I watched it again this morning and the set looks completely ridiculous. The back wall is too close, it's too yellow, and it just looks the whole show look cheap. I would have loved to have been in the room when the decision was made: "hey, what if we go with cramped and yellow?"