Honest -- it wasn't a zipper

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 01/17/2002 | Christine Craft

[Pokey78]

"IT'S NOT a zipper!" whimpered the red-faced execs at CNN. "It just sounds like a zipper!"

Caught touting credibility out of one side of their mouths while selling sex out of the other, they're referring to a quickly yanked promotional ad -- complete with zipper sound effect -- describing newly hired morning anchor Paula Zahn as "just a little sexy."

[Pat Bateman]

Okay, that kinda makes sense. I haven't heard it. But then these days, fewer and fewer people would know that sound, which is probably why someone thought it was a zipper.

[Happygal]

Well I like to consider myself a ``high maintenance blonde'' but $7,000?????? *L* I'd at least expect a manicure thrown in for that ;-P

[oldsalt]

Zahn looks great , especially for her age.

She's OK,but nowhere near E.D.Donahey on "Fox and Friends".Just looking at her makes me feel 20 years younger!

[Exnihilo]

. To me, it sounded like a needle scratching a LP record, not a zipper

That's exactly what it was. I can't believe people thought it was a zipper. It's the sound of a record being suddenly stopped. Kind of like a "woah, wait a minute!" type of sound.

[Phantom Lord]

Is that one of those big black CDs that wont fit into my player?

[NC_Libertarian]

If you bake them in your oven they'll become the right size to fit. Or maybye I'm confusing those with shrinky dinks?

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I never saw a shot of Dan Rather's Bare legs. (That's probably a good thing.)

[cdw19390]

Alan Keyes is on MSNBC; If that is what FOX wants adios!

[citizen]

That's them. I got a whole big box full of 'em. I keep them for the album covers.

I can't see the female in question now whthout thinking, even saying,

Zipper Zahn!

Offended by butt. It's all about publicity & ratings. Gotta earn those big bucks, being "high maintenance" sounds expensive.

[Phantom Lord]

Paula claims that CNN ran the ad without showing it to her first or getting her approval. If i was a betting man, which i am, i would put the house on her having given a giant stamp of approval for the ads. She probably also saw nothing wrong with it and didnt think there would be any stink about it.

Once it was evident that there was a big stink about it she saw an opportunity to turn the stink into PR and probably attract more viewers with that than the ad would have ever brought in.

[hope]

To shell out that much for a highlight job, one must have had their a$$ waxed one too many times. ;)

[truthkeeper]

First, Van Susteren's shapeless lawyer suits with long pants and sensible pumps will have to go. Her eyebrows will be waxed and redrawn; her lips injected with collagen and her coif restyled to chin-length, Jennifer Aniston-like layers. They'll bleach her blonder, much blonder and style it much bigger . . . kind of like Paula Zahn. Just think of the promos they could do!

Never mind all that. Can she just use a mirror and a comb when she parts her hair??