Former CBS News veteran John Roberts is coming up on his first year as co-anchor of CNN's American Morning. While it's not getting the same ratings boom that the cable network is experiencing the rest of the day, AM's first-quarter audience is up 11 percent from a year ago as Roberts and co-anchor Kiran Chetry offer a more straight-ahead alternative to the entertainment/news hybrids that the broadcast networks and Fox News offer in the morning. But Roberts tells The Biz the program will be getting some adjustments when a new executive producer comes onboard. TVGuide.com: Your anniversary on American Morning is the same day as the [anniversary] of the biggest domestic stories of last year, the Virginia Tech shooting.John Roberts: On April 16 Kiran and I did our very first show together. I was in Washington, she was in New York. Literally at the end of the show the Virginia Tech shooting broke and we found ourselves on the road. It's a shame that was such a tragedy that threw us right...
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Maila Nurmi, who via her The Vampira Show hosted Los Angeles-area horror-movie broadcasts in the mid-1950s (and in 1989 lost a $10 million lawsuit against Cassandra Peterson's Elvira character), died on Jan. 10 of causes yet to be determined. She was 85.... CNN is launching CNN Election Center, a nightly prime-time wrap-up of election news, hosted by John Roberts.... Fox's So You Think You Can Dance has announced Season 4 auditions in Dallas, Texas (Jan. 17, SMU), Charleston, South Carolina (Jan. 31, Charleston Music Hall), Salt Lake City, Utah (Feb. 4, Capitol Theatre), and Washington, D.C. (Feb. 21, Atlas Performing Arts Center).
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Warner Home Video has issued a statement saying that due to "time constraints," solicited fan testimonial videos will not be included on the Veronica Mars Season 3 DVD set as planned. I knew I shouldn't have done mine naked.... Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) on Monday presented America Ferrera with a copy of the resolution she introduced to the House of Representatives, commending the Ugly Betty star on raising the profile of Latinos in popular culture.... The interminable penguin movie topped the DVD sales chart last week, while The Pursuit of Happyness was the No. 1 rental.... CNN's American Morning is replacing anchors Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien with rising stars John Roberts and Kiran Chetry.
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If you already work for CBS News, don't count on getting the CBS Evening News anchor job.
CBS News president Sean McManus told reporters at the Television Critics Association winter press tour Wednesday that insiders at the network are not high on his list. Of course, it's been widely reported that the network wants to pursue Katie Couric, coanchor of NBC's Today, whose contract is up in May. But even if she decides to stay put at NBC, McManus said he's more likely to go with an outsider for the anchor job.
"That's probably the case," he said.
Why? "I'm not sure we have anyone who has the qualifications that the anchor should have," he says. "Part of that may be that there hasn't been quite enough emphasis on developing the next anchor." While there are many capable correspondents and substitute anchors at CBS, McManus added, none have the kind of high profile that would make them an obvious choice for the viewers.
Oddly enough,
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