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The Katie Couric Problem
NOTE: since I originally posted this blog, and as I predicted, it was reported today (April 12) that Katie will be leaving her position for who knows what in the wake of the pitiful performance of the CBS Nightly News which she was hired to anchor. The powers that be there are still rangling over what it is she will go on to, making stupid suggestions and ridiculous predictions, on their way to assigning her to another equally inappropriate position - prime time interviews on a cable channel (which no one will watch and will itself be gone in 6 months), or a "serious" talk show along the lines of Oprah Winfrey's show.
If they were smart, they would put Katie into a talk show of course (as I suggested), but it shouldn't be on cable and it shouldn't be in the afternoon or anywhere near the evening, but around 11am - to compete with - or at 10am to lead into - "The View". There is where Katie will flourish - in a mid-morning program geared toward women, with soft interviews and lots of humor and silliness. Maybe a little more like "Ellen" than "Oprah".
Katie is more than capable of handling semi- and "nice" - celebs but not hard news personalities and please: not hard news. She has no street cred among news people, nor even among people who simply make it a habit to watch news. C'mon CBS, stop wasting your time and money and do what is being whispered about! Get Katie out of there, quickly, get her a pretty set with flowers on the coffee table, along with a big New York Starbucks mug, and bring on the attractive and non-controversial celebrities and she will be a huge hit. The producer who jumps on this will be a hero and the move will be considered "brilliant" and everybody will be happy.
Of course in this case, it's no great shakes to be right about this all - in fact it's not like the folks at CBS didn't know this would happen about 12 seconds after they signed the deal with Couric. You know it's just that the idea seemed like such a good one; sort of the same way that invading a country - ANY country - after being attacked sounded so good to a lot of idiots not too long ago. It just takes one brave, smart, non-conformist to speak up and save the day. If only Colin Powell had worked for CBS...
And now on to the original blog - which seems awfully prescient if you ask me...
I used to be a loyal viewer of CBS Nightly news but I, like most other
people, have abandoned CBS in favor of either NBC or ABC (they are
virtually interchangeable - with equally wonderful, warm, capable
newsreaders), specifically because Katie Couric is such a
pitiful presence on a night-time news program.
CBS will never, ever win the first place in the Nightly News hour with
Katie at the helm, and surely by now they know that, but in the short
run there are a few things they can do to keep the few remaining
viewers who are too elderly to turn the channel from abandoning them.
It's hard to believe that any market research CBS did before hiring
Katie indicated that the morning audience for Katie would follow her
to evening news. If they didn't do the research (even if just asking
the people who work there), certainly they're kicking themselves now! But really
any intelligent person could have told them that what people,
especially women, watch in the morning is a zero indicator of what
they will watch in the evening. In the morning we're looking for
lighter programming; something that can be half paid attention to
while we're getting dressed and packing lunches.
In the evening, we've faced a day of decision-making, read the paper,
discussed current events with co-workers and are looking for
thoughtful, serious information delivered by newscasters we respect.
Katie Couric has never been a "newscaster" in the mind of the public,
and I know this might come as a shock to you, CBS, but the fact that she is
a woman is not only insignificant to women viewers, but is, in fact, a
strike against her. (Frankly, if you had
