TVSquad

Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer has a lengthy article, written by TV reporter Gail Shister, about the speculation flowing around CBS that the network has already given up on Katie Couric, and will shift her off the CBS Evening News after the 2008 presidential election.

Apparently, according to Shister, there's a "growing feeling" around the Eye Network that it was a mistake to insert Couric in the anchor role and that the news division would be better served having her in a different role than anchor of their signature program. "It's a disaster. Everybody knows it's not working. CBS may not cut her loose, but I guarantee you, somebody's thinking about it. We're all hunkered down, waiting for the other shoe to drop," says one of the many anonymous correspondents and staffers that talked to Shister for the article.

The decision to give 24's Jack Bauer a brother seemed ridiculous at first, the show's executive producer told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

And the notion's absurdity was heightened when producer Howard Gordon suggested to the writing staff that the Bauer brother be the sinister Bluetooth dude who'd been seen in the previous season ordering the president to commit various crimes.

Turning Paul McCrane's character into a Bauer was "probably a crazy, terrible idea," Gordon told the newspaper, however the 24 staff "decided it was too good to resist."

In today's Philadelphia Inquirer, three female media figures talk to writer Gail Shister about the high expectations on Katie Couric, who is (altogether now) the first solo female weeknight anchor in network history. All three experts think that people are expecting Couric to turn things around quickly, mainly because of her historic ascension to the CBS Evening News anchor chair. But things don't usually work that way.

One of the experts interviewed was Connie Chung, who knows about this issue more than most; she spent two largely tension-filled years of the mid-nineties co-anchoring the CBS news with Dan Rather. "All this takes an enormous amount of time," she told Shister. "TV viewing rarely changes dramatically, whereas programmers do. I think Katie's holding her own nicely." She goes on to say that experts should stop constantly judging Couric.

I tend to agree with Connie. Yes, Couric's ratings aren't good (in fact, the article states, the November ratings were slightly lower than they were when Bob Schieffer was anchor). But she should be given room to find her legs, no pun intended. She did a pretty nice job on Election Night, which bodes well for her ability to cover breaking stories down the road.

I have no interest in watching Friday Night Lights, but I agree with author Buzz Bissinger (he wrote the book that the TV show is based on) when he gives his opinion of Dancing with the Stars.

He tells The Philadelphia Inquirer, where he used to work that "America is getting what it deserves - crappy, stupid, artificial reality TV...it's distressing that so many people are flocking to a show that's obviously contrived and ridiculous."

I agree, though I would extend the sentiment to almost every other reality show on the air right now. NBC isn't giving up on the show yet though. Not only has the network ordered nine more scripts for the show, it's also going to give it a shot in Studio 60's time slot next Monday at 10pm. Maybe some people will tune in after Heroes, which just keeps on getting stronger and stronger (in ratings as well as quality).

[via TV Tattle]

When Elizabeth Vargas stepped down from her job anchoring World News Tonight, many felt that she was forced to do it by ABC higher-ups because of an unfortunate confluence of poor ratings, Bob Woodruff's injury and her unexpected pregnancy. The pregnancy angle riled up lots of people, including feminist groups such as NOW. In fact, these groups publicly criticized the network, even bringing in its treatment of the Geena Davis-led Commander-in-Chief into their tirades (talk about going a step too far...).

But Vargas insists that the decision to give up the WNT anchor chair was hers. In fact, as she tells Gail Shister of the Philadelphia Inquirer, "I played a crucial and active role in this decision. It's the best thing for me and my family and my career right now... . I have no complaints." She still wants to anchor a five-day-per-week show in some capacity -- maybe even in the mornings -- but she won't even attempt to do so until both her kids are a little older.

[via Mediabistro]