Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

There are choices after CBS jettisons Couric as anchor (Help pick the next SeeBS Smooze Newsreader)
Cox News Service ^ | May 3, 2008 | Diane Holloway

Posted on 05/04/2008 3:20:11 AM PDT by Zakeet

After months of speculation, by everybody from E! News to The New York Times, that Katie Couric will soon end her rocky tenure as anchor of "CBS Evening News," network chief Leslie Moonves stormed into the newsroom last week and attempted to snuff out the flames.

According to The Associated Press, he told the staff that Couric, the first female solo evening news anchor, isn't leaving. He was adamant. He said she's "your anchor." Unspoken but implied: So get used to it and stop whining ... for now.

Seriously, Mr. Moonves, will Couric stay perched at the CBS anchor desk despite bad press and historically low ratings? Only two years into a five-year, $15 million-a-year contract, Couric has bombed. She will not be anchoring "Evening News" in 2009 and may well exit right after the November election and before the January inauguration.

CBS doesn't want a lame duck quacking on the air, so the corporate denial ensues. If CBS made public its plans to change anchors, viewership might decline even further before the switch. Can't risk that.

But people are already speculating on Couric's future and the future of the CBS anchor job.

(Excerpt) Read more at venturacountystar.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cbs; cbsnews; couric; msm

So, who will take the throne once occupied by the beloved Walter Cronkite? We've got candidates, some serious, some not so serious, but all worth pondering.

  1. Scott Pelley
  2. Lesley Stahl
  3. Bryant Gumbel
  4. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart (maybe) or Stephen Colbert (absolutely not)
  5. Anderson Cooper

Who do you want to see on CBS News? Any of the above? None?

In the meantime, don't cry for Katie Couric.

CBS has to pay the $75 million on her five-year contract whether she's anchoring or not.

1 posted on 05/04/2008 3:20:12 AM PDT by Zakeet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

It ain’t who’s reading the news that’s the problem. It’s that the news he/she is reading is made up and ain’t really news.


2 posted on 05/04/2008 3:24:53 AM PDT by wolfpat (If you don't like the Patriot Act, you're really gonna hate Sharia Law.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
The time is ripe...


3 posted on 05/04/2008 3:32:53 AM PDT by johnny7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

I thought I have read somewhere that CBS was closing down their news operations and getting it from CNN.


4 posted on 05/04/2008 3:33:08 AM PDT by Mark was here (The earth is bipolar.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Rush Limbaugh as CBS anchor!


5 posted on 05/04/2008 3:47:20 AM PDT by johnthebaptistmoore (Vote for conservatives AT ALL POLITICAL LEVELS! Encourage all others to do the same on November 4!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Geraldo Rivera


6 posted on 05/04/2008 3:50:54 AM PDT by BunnySlippers (Buy a Mac ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet


7 posted on 05/04/2008 3:54:10 AM PDT by DainBramage
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Scott Pelley will cost the least, and I think they have to consider this...since they are the hook for Katie’s salary for years to come. The damage to the network will last for years, which is the amusing part. And I wouldn’t be quick to blame CBS alone. VIACOM put alot of heat on the network to bring Katie into the deal. Someone near the top of VIACOM has special interests with this deal.


8 posted on 05/04/2008 3:57:19 AM PDT by pepsionice
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Petra Verkaik. Their ratings would soar!!!


9 posted on 05/04/2008 4:06:44 AM PDT by PJ-Comix (Join the DUmmie FUnnies PING List ---The BIGGEST on the FR!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

10 posted on 05/04/2008 4:13:15 AM PDT by Bean Counter (Stout Hearts.....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
There are choices after CBS jettisons Couric as anchor.

With the weight of that contract for CBS, Katie should be worried about the choices "before"...

"Make it look like an accident"

11 posted on 05/04/2008 4:29:29 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Chris Wallace would be my choice. He’s smart and serious, he may be liberal but he’s not a kook liberal, and he seems fair. But it would be a shame for FOX to lose him.


12 posted on 05/04/2008 4:31:02 AM PDT by carola
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

13 posted on 05/04/2008 4:36:04 AM PDT by JohnLongIsland
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JohnLongIsland

Dang it!!! You made me spit up my morning coffee!!


14 posted on 05/04/2008 4:38:48 AM PDT by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Colbert is probably the most psychologically grounded, taking himself less seriously than any of them - I have never seen a comedian think faster on his feet


15 posted on 05/04/2008 4:40:29 AM PDT by Revelation 911
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUi0rRbJmUM


16 posted on 05/04/2008 4:42:20 AM PDT by Revelation 911
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

This is a job for Connie Chung!


17 posted on 05/04/2008 4:45:30 AM PDT by Savage Beast ("History is not just cruel. It is witty." ~Charles Krauthammer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Borrowing these RCA/NBC icons would get more ratings...

http://www.high-techproductions.com/testpatterns.htm


18 posted on 05/04/2008 4:47:25 AM PDT by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Caipirabob

Take Luca Brazzi, make her an offer she can’t refuse.


19 posted on 05/04/2008 4:56:50 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (The women got the vote and the Nation got Harding.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
Maybe they could get dan raTHer to come out of retirement. He still has a few axes to grind with FReepers and LGF.
20 posted on 05/04/2008 5:07:40 AM PDT by Arrowhead1952 (Typical white person, bitter, religious, gun owner, who will "Just say No to BO (or HRC).")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Dennis Miller!


21 posted on 05/04/2008 5:08:36 AM PDT by NewCenturions (I've got a posthumous crush on Dave Guard)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

My vote goes to Snake Head Carville.


22 posted on 05/04/2008 5:09:30 AM PDT by chainsaw ( No black racist Muslims in the WH either)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NewCenturions

Dennis Miller!

great choice....and hire Ann Coulter to do the commentary!!!


23 posted on 05/04/2008 5:48:27 AM PDT by nyyankeefan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

How in the world do people like Les Moonves and Scott Mcmanus keep THEIR jobs after such a horrific string of decisions (from Rathergate on if not before)

I could walk out on a NYC street, hire the first person to walk by to read the news for a fraction the cost and still come in last in ratings.


24 posted on 05/04/2008 5:55:41 AM PDT by rod1 (uestion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: carola

They need someone with a higher profile and since his father worked there, I consider its a good bet that Chris Wallace may show up at CBS for that job.


25 posted on 05/04/2008 5:56:32 AM PDT by Nextrush (MCCAIN, OBAMA, CLINTON......WHAT A CHOICE?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: chainsaw

I can see it now... James Carville with his nightly “Who’s a Judas today? report.


26 posted on 05/04/2008 5:57:23 AM PDT by rod1 (uestion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
Replace one huckster with another.


27 posted on 05/04/2008 6:04:23 AM PDT by GodBlessRonaldReagan (Wakka-ding-hoy - battle cry of the Plexus Rangers!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
Bryant Gumbel ??????

You can't be serious!!!!

28 posted on 05/04/2008 6:12:12 AM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

How about brooming the entire news staff and hiring people who can fact-check stories before they put them on the air?


29 posted on 05/04/2008 6:16:34 AM PDT by RichInOC (Dan Rather: Who SAYS Ted Baxter Was A Fictional Character?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: wolfpat
It ain’t who’s reading the news that’s the problem. It’s that the news he/she is reading is made up and ain’t really news.

Although it can certainly help!


30 posted on 05/04/2008 6:25:30 AM PDT by uglybiker (I do not suffer from mental illness. I quite enjoy it, actually.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

After Katie, I think CBS might as well go for the whole hog:


31 posted on 05/04/2008 8:49:12 AM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
Same news but at least it would be funny. Photobucket
32 posted on 05/04/2008 10:34:04 AM PDT by Clay Moore ("My daddy says I'm this close to living in the yard." Ralph Wiggum)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: uglybiker

Replace the talking heads with great looking women. Then the men will tune in{ sound turned down}
I think woman like Jolene Blalock will do the job well.


33 posted on 05/04/2008 10:38:29 AM PDT by Yorlik803 ( I graduated from school of life, got my degree from the school of Hard Knocks)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson