Katie Couric by Andrew Eccles/CBS
In a sitdown with New York Magazine, Katie Couric admits to having days "when I'm like, 'Oh my god, what did I do?'" with regards to the cold reception given her CBS Evening News cast. That said, she takes issue with those who find a certain glee in her woes. "I've gone through a bit of a feeding frenzy and there's blood in the water. This person who's been successful isn't so great, and finally she's being put in her place.... That kind of mentality [is] fairly primal." Other choice sound bites from the in-depth profile:• "[That] I'm not a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown... it's probably disappointing to some people, because in the arc of the story, that's what they want to see."• "I underestimated the feeling that some might have that I was a morning-show personality and not a credible news person. Which I, quite frankly, think is patently unfair."• On the topic of peers who have slammed her "anonymously" in the press (no less than Bob Schieffer and Lesley...
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Dan Rather by Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com
Refusing to walk away from what he started, Dan Rather has responded to CBS CEO Leslie Moonves' accusation that the veteran newsman's critique of the "dumbed down/tarted up" Evening News was a "sexist" "cheap shot." "It doesn't have to do with Katie [Couric], it doesn't have to do with gender," Rather contended Tuesday on Fox News. "It has to do with the corporate leadership. Les Moonves knows about entertainment, but he doesn't know about news." Does he know football? Because Bo knows football. (That joke was brought to you by the year 1989.)POLL: Was Dan Rather being "sexist"? Vote here.
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Dan Rather by John Filo/CBS
During a Monday call to MSNBC's Morning Joe program, Dan Rather shared his qualified take on why CBS Evening News has yet to emerge from the ratings basement (where he left it upon his March 2005 exit from the anchor chair). "The mistake was trying to bring the Today show ethos to the Evening News and dumb it down/tart it up, in hopes of attracting a younger audience," the veteran newsman said.Rather called current anchor Katie Couric "a nice person," but said that trying to change networks and jobs in one fell swoop, as she famously and publicly did, "is always difficult."UPDATE: Per TV Week, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said at a Tuesday breakfast conference that he is "surprised at the vitriol directed at [Couric]," and accused Rather of taking a "cheap shot" with his "sexist" remarks. "Give [Katie] a break," Moonves urged the crowd.
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• Army Wives debuted to 3.5 million total viewers on Sunday, making it the most-watched series premiere in Lifetime's 23-year history.• The penultimate episode of The Sopranos drew eight million, a 300,000 week-to-week bump and the series' second-most-watched episode of the year.• The MTV Movie Awards (3.6 mil) were up 13 percent versus last year.• Some 4.7 million feasted on the Season 3 premiere of The Next Food Network Star, making it the cabler's best-performing premiere ever.• The Riches' season finale audience (1.8 mil) represented a 54 percent drop from the series opener.• CBS Evening News averaged 5.5 mil last week, its lowest draw since at least 1987.
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Katie Couric, CBS Evening News
When Katie Couric first took over the CBS Evening News, she said she didn't want to do your grandmother's newscast. But she's found out the hard way that Grandma liked her evening news the way it was. The program's ratings have fallen to a 20-year low, languishing behind ABC's World News with Charles Gibson and NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. CBS News recently installed veteran producer Rick Kaplan, who has upped the number of stories covered and dropped the informal touches that Couric brought to it.
"A lot of things didn't work," says Kaplan. "It didn't suit what the viewers were looking for, and we got off it and tried something else. We gave everyone a lesson in some things not to do."
The anchor agrees it's the way to go for now.
"Rick is trying to reassure people that we are here every night coverin
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Newly appointed CBS News senior vice president Paul Friedman has been put in charge of, among other things, bolstering Katie Couric's struggling Evening News-cast. Speaking to the latest, far-from-greatest ratings, Friedman tells the Hollywood Reporter, "Obviously it's not the best news.... But we know we're on the right track now," having recently amped up the program's hard-news content. "Our frustration is that the program is so much better [than when Couric first seized the reins], and we just need people to notice that. We alienated, clearly, a significant part of our audience, [and] we've got to get them to check in again."
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A Gallup survey released on Thursday confirms one secret to Katie Couric's lack of success. Whereas rival evening news anchors Charles Gibson and Brian Williams are viewed positively by 62 percent and 59 percent of viewers, respectively, Katie only merits a thumbs-up from barely half the sample. What's more, the face of CBS Evening News has a full 29 percent of respondents viewing her negatively, as in they simply "don't like her" — a likability that, the AP notes, arose during Legs' final years at The Today Show.
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CBS has inked a deal to stream Evening News with Katie Couric on Sprint cell phones, starting in April. Also coming to that itty-bitty screen: full episodes of Jericho.... A May 1 DVD release date has been set for Alpha Dog, featuring the captivating Amber Heard.... Have a theory about what's coming up on Heroes? Share it here at NBC.com. The best ones are airing on NBC. The worst ones will be mercilessly laughed and laughed and laughed at by Peacock interns.
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CBS News is expected to announce on Thursday that Rome Hartman is being ousted as CBS Evening News' executive producer, with former CNN and MSNBC prez Rick Kaplan to take his place. "Changes had to be made," a source tells the New York Post, alluding to Katie Couric's February-sweeps ratings, which again found her a distant third and, worse, delivering a six-percent smaller audience than Bob Schieffer drew a year ago. Adds the Post's insider, "This was a competitive move, an aggressive move by [CBS News president] Sean [McManus]." And if this doesn't work? We CGI in a third, fabulous gam for K.C.
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Sunday's New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys contest drew 27.6 million viewers for Fox, making it the most-watched regular-season NFL game since the 49ers-Broncos Dec. 15, 1997, face-off. It was also the highest-rated Sunday-afternoon game in almost exactly 10 years (Cowboys-49ers).... Katie Couric's CBS Evening News placed third for November sweeps in total viewers, averaging 7.73 million — more than a mil behind second-place ABC.... Last week, the CW delivered its best week yet in total viewers and adults 18-34, bolstered by strong sweeps-ending showings from Gilmore Girls (4.89 mil) and Veronica Mars (3.44 mil).
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