Katie Couric

[scaeagles]

Personally, she makes me ill, but that isn't what this is about.

Why the huge media frenzy about one of their own switching from one high profile job to another high profile job?

One thing that has always disturbed me about the media is when they make themselves the story. Does anyone really care that she's moving from Today to the CBS Nightly News? Perhaps some people do and I'm just missing it.

I guess I'm confused because this is ALL over the media and has been for a while. In my newspaper. On several news oriented web sites. On TV.

Am I missing something, or is this something newsworthy?

[Matterhorn Fan]

Sure, the fact that she's moving can be news. But that's all there is to say about it.

The celebrity "goodbyes" and the "let's celebrate Katie" junk that's been going on on the Today show are a little pitiful.

[Moonliner]

What's not to get? She's a bonafide icon of American culture. As Katie goes, so goes the nation. To legions of her fans not having her perpetually perky persona greeting them at the start of each day will be a true loss.




oww, I think I just pulled a muscle trying to keep a straight face....

[Alex]

Her leaving the Today show is an event of some noteworthiness. Kind of like the retirement of Johnny Carson was back in '92. Part of the newsworthiness is that the job change is a certain redefinition of what we will expect from the evening news anchor of one of the networks and therefore it is newsworthy as a milestone in the shifting of popular culture.

Plus there is the fact that we all tend to assume that the big things in what we are most interested in is big news to everybody (and thus we are all a little shocked to be walking around Disneyland and hear somebody say "Country Bear Jamboree is gone!") and this is big news to the people who decide what news is big so there is some bias.

Personally I don't care because I've watched maybe five hours total of the Today show over the last decade and I haven't watched one of the evening network news programs in longer than that.

[Gn2Dlnd]

If I hadn't decided to respond to this thread, Ms. Couric's job change would have never come up for me in conversation.

Don't watch network news, I've got the interwebs.

<3 <3 <3 And Jon Stewart. <3 <3 <3

[Gemini Cricket]

I don't watch TV news anymore either. I may tune in once or twice to see how Katie's doing, but I don't plan to watch her every night. I think Katie's okay.
:)

[Snowflake]

Johnny Carson retiring from the Tonight Show, I get and I got. Katie Couric, meh, whatever.

[Not Afraid]

I'm not sure I could pick her out of a line up of perky blonds.

[wendybeth]

I just don't know what to think of the fact that Alex has watched approximately five hours more of the Today show than I have in the past decade.

As for Katie delivering the nightly news: think of how much better news sounds when delivered by a perky little blonde! We'll know it's bad only when we see the little furrow between her brows- provided the Botox Cops haven't gotten to her first.

[Snowflake]

I just don't know what to think of the fact that Alex has watched approximately five hours more of the Today show than I have in the past decade.

As for Katie delivering the nightly news: think of how much better news sounds when delivered by a perky little blonde! We'll know it's bad only when we see the little furrow between her brows- provided the Botox Cops haven't gotten to her first.


You must spread some Mojo around before giving it to wendybeth again.
My sides fricken HURT:D

[Prudence]

I'm interested in what the public reaction is to her doing news. My perception is that female newscasters still have to deal with the notion that if they're attractive they're not intelligent, and if they're unattractive they're not worth watching. I know there are female personalities on the 24-hour newsnetworks, but there haven't been a lot anchoring primetime broadcast news, and every so often there's a tussle locally when a local station announces that the older female anchor has "left to pursue opportunities." I'm curious to see if the people who apparently love watching her in the morning will follow her to the evening broadcast.

[Scrooge McSam]

Personally I don't care

ditto

Corporate newscasts don't do it for me any more. In the time it takes me to get one obvious slant from the head office I can get info from every side of an issue online.

[Morrigoon]

I just don't like Katie Couric. There's this biting cynical side of her that just can't seem to help surfacing and it rubs me the wrong way.

Now, that Gretchen somethingorother from Fox News, always liked her. Straight and to the point, and without the little microexpressions of dislike so prevalent on Katie's face.

But I get my news from the web now. Or that blonde hussy on Good Day LA (just kidding, I actually love their show, except the tabloid and fashion segments)

[Morrigoon]

Rereading my post above, I just had to comment that I think it's hilarious that my knowledge of a newscaster's name is in inverse relation to my viewership.

[Gemini Cricket]

Now, that Gretchen somethingorother from Fox News, always liked her. Straight and to the point, and without the little microexpressions of dislike so prevalent on Katie's face.
Greta Von Sustern can no longer make any facial expressions of any kind. Not after the facelift she got.

:D

[Alex]

I just don't like Katie Couric. There's this biting cynical side of her that just can't seem to help surfacing and it rubs me the wrong way.

Now, that Gretchen somethingorother from Fox News, always liked her. Straight and to the point, and without the little microexpressions of dislike so prevalent on Katie's face.

When she wants to, she is one of the best hard-hitting interviewers around. Of course, that is more suited to 60 Minutes than the evening news. I don't really hold it against her that she spent most of her career doing fluff news in the morning. So has Charlie Gibson but i don't see any similar commentary that his promotion to the ABC evening news will somehow lack the necessary gravitas for reading video press releases at 6 p.m. Is the problem her experience or her gender?

Katie Couric did exactly what the format requested of her and she did it very well, as evidenced by the fact that for a decade her show was #1. I personally don't care for the format (if I watch TV at that time of the morning I watch the sports version, Cold Pizza, on ESPN2, where it is even lamer).

Morigoon, do you mean Greta Van Susteren? If so, I avoid her for no other reason that I am in a lifelong boycott of anybody who made their career off of the O.J. Simpson trial. (Fortunately, Jay Leno sucks so that is an easy one.)

[innerSpaceman]

I think it's something about bed. For those people who have the tube on in their bedroom (which I used to do many, many years ago) ... the likes of Johnny Carson when you fall asleep and Katie Couric when you wake up take on a sort of personal familiarity that is newsworthy when it changes after more than a decade of comfort zone.

[scaeagles]

I think it's something about bed.

Are you saying you want (or wanted) to bag both Johnny and Katie?;)

[innerSpaceman]

if available simultaneously ..... yes.

[NickO'Time]

I'M glad Katie is leaving.

She has the look of Gizmo the Gremlin when she smiles and it's creepy to me. :eek:
I don't watch evening news anymore. The news is on the web alot faster then any TV show can catch up to it.

[scaeagles]

I stopped my paper not too long ago for the same reason. Why do I want to read something that happened the previous evening and is now completely outdated as the story has grown? Or that I can read about online almost seconds after it happens?

[innerSpaceman]

Um, I suppose that might be for the (potential) depth of a story that is not on the internet or the TV.

Two screens or Two minutes hardly convey the essense of any news I might be interested in. Alas, most newspapers don't do much better, but that's the advantage that remains exclusive to the oldfashioned newspaper.



And I'm sure Katie would be crushed to discover that 7 people posting on LoT don't like her. Not exactly going to put a dent in her massive popularity. She happens to be good, and apparently quite appealing, at what she does. I predict ratings for the Today Show will take a steep dive.

I don't see her star rising any further from the nightly news gig. No one will be watching. But, after 15 years, it's probably nice to stop getting up at 4:30 a.m. (since the same multi-million dollar paycheck will be hers for more human working hours).

[scaeagles]

And I'm sure Katie would be crushed to discover that 7 people posting on LoT don't like her. Not exactly going to put a dent in her massive popularity. She happens to be good, and apparently quite appealing, at what she does. I predict ratings for the Today Show will take a steep dive.

Don't know about The Today Show, but her ratings took a massive nose dive after the original curiousity. After a huge start, apparently no one was that impressed and CBS was again dead last by Friday of last week, continuing inot this week.

Now I will say that isn't a very fair analysis, but it doesn't look like the name Katie Couric itself will generate the ratings CBS wants. I'll be curious to see where she's at in two months.

[Moonliner]

Don't know about The Today Show, but her ratings took a massive nose dive after the original curiousity.

Who is this person you all are talking about?

[Jughead P. Jones]

Katie Couric seems to be doing a fairly good job on the CBS news...but my parents still think that Bob Schieffer should still be there. I keep telling them "he didn't die or get fired...he's just in Washington". So basically, they have their minds made up.

As for the Today show, it'll be interesting to see what happens when Meredith Vieira takes over Katie's spot (as far as I know that's still happening?). I thought Meredith would a really great replacement for her, and she is quite professional. I'm sure it'll take some time to get used to, but I have my doubts that the Today show will be really affected negatively by Katie's departure for long.

On the flipside...replacing Meredith Vieira with Rosie O'Donnell on The View...no comment.

[Alex]

I'm still amazed at the thought of people choosing which news to watch simply based on who is reading the teleprompter.

I think I speak for everyone when I say that all I am looking for in a newscast is that it be 1) to the point, 2) conveniently located in my schedule, and C) subtly slanted to confirm my ideological slant.

Since I like to sleep in and believe anything said by someone with pretty blue eyes, I watch Studio B with Shepherd Smith on Fox News at noon.

[mousepod]

My friends and I have a term for the network evening news. We call it "old news". With several 24-hour news channels on television, plus the local news and the internet, and the op-ed page of the antiquated "paper" that we still receive, I don't think I've turned on network news for years...

After seeing "Turtle Talk with Crush" at DCA and Epcot, though, I'd like to see Pixar come up with a new news reader for ABC.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

After seeing "Turtle Talk with Crush" at DCA and Epcot, though, I'd like to see Pixar come up with a new news reader for ABC.

I'd watch the news for that. Since DCA is closing at 6pm, maybe Ros would be available?

[Snowflake]

I rarely watch any news program. I read online most news I get.
Whether or not Katie gets the ratings, meh, makes no difference to me.

[cirquelover]

But I get my news from the web now. Or that blonde hussy on Good Day LA (just kidding, I actually love their show, except the tabloid and fashion segments)


I love Jillian Barbarie(sp)! We used to get that show up here in Oregon for about a year and I enjoyed it. I really liked the other lady too, one of the Neville brothers daughter. Maybe I can catch an episode while I'm in Anaheim next week!

As for Katie, I've never actually watched a whole episode of the Today show. The only time I tuned in was when they had Cirque du Soleil performers on. I don't care for the morning news shows, it's more fluff than news!

[katiesue]

I too haven't watched network news in forever. I also would rather sleep in later than watch a morning news show.

Katie gets on my nerves and I don't think she'll revive the evening newscast. As others have said there are so many other sources of news that are more current and more in depth.

[Jughead P. Jones]

I love Jillian Barbarie(sp)! We used to get that show up here in Oregon for about a year and I enjoyed it. I really liked the other lady too, one of the Neville brothers daughter. Maybe I can catch an episode while I'm in Anaheim next week!

As for Katie, I've never actually watched a whole episode of the Today show. The only time I tuned in was when they had Cirque du Soleil performers on. I don't care for the morning news shows, it's more fluff than news!

I don't know it it's the same woman that is the Neville brothers daughter, but Dorothy Lucey was a co-host on Good Day Live for a while along with Barberie and Steve Edwards.

[cirquelover]

I'm pretty sure her name is Arthel Neville. Her dad was playing HOB last time I was in Anaheim but sadly the show was sold out when I arrived. That was a year or two ago, so I'm sure they've changed their cohosts a few times since then.