With nearly a year left on her contract, TV news's answer to box office poison Katie Couric (whose "CBS Evening News" remains hopelessly mired in distant third place) almost certainly faces a "huge cut" in her $15 million salary, as the Post is reporting. (That another 150 got canned from CBS's news division Monday surely doesn't help her case.) The paper says the consensus inside the net is that Katie's ill-conceived casting as anchorwoman was a "noble but failed experiment" (ouch) ... and speculation has it that Katie might be a natural for a daytime talker, with Queen Oprah bowing out. We couldn't agree more: time to save face, save your network, and cut and run, Katie. This whole situation reminds us more than a little of David Caruso, who infamously, arrogantly left his big, fat prime-time hit "NYPD Blue" back in the 90s to launch an ultimately failed film career ... but who was, against all odds, able to (rather, lucky enough to) reboot after returning to that which he knows best: network TV and another sweet gig, "CSI: Miami." Likewise, the chirpy Couric had a long, successful run on NBC's "Today" show doing what she's best-suited to do: making happy talk for the infotainment of stay-at-home moms during the daylight hours. Trying to turn her into an Edward R. Murrow for the soccer-mom set was an idiotic gimmick that was never, ever going to work (clearly) ... much like the selection of Conan O'Brien to helm "The Tonight Show," or Sarah Palin as v.p. nominee, or Ben Silverman to shepherd NBC's prime-time programming, or the ill-advised appointment and retention of more than a few magazine publishers we can think of. Stunts usually don't work in the long run, and "bold" decisions (as we have all, quite painfully, experienced over the last decade, over the course of way too many wars, and tax cuts for the rich, and giving the private sector a golden ticket with which to run amok) don't always make for "smart" ones.
Wednesday, February 3
Curtains for 'Noble But Failed Experiment' Katie?
With nearly a year left on her contract, TV news's answer to box office poison Katie Couric (whose "CBS Evening News" remains hopelessly mired in distant third place) almost certainly faces a "huge cut" in her $15 million salary, as the Post is reporting. (That another 150 got canned from CBS's news division Monday surely doesn't help her case.) The paper says the consensus inside the net is that Katie's ill-conceived casting as anchorwoman was a "noble but failed experiment" (ouch) ... and speculation has it that Katie might be a natural for a daytime talker, with Queen Oprah bowing out. We couldn't agree more: time to save face, save your network, and cut and run, Katie. This whole situation reminds us more than a little of David Caruso, who infamously, arrogantly left his big, fat prime-time hit "NYPD Blue" back in the 90s to launch an ultimately failed film career ... but who was, against all odds, able to (rather, lucky enough to) reboot after returning to that which he knows best: network TV and another sweet gig, "CSI: Miami." Likewise, the chirpy Couric had a long, successful run on NBC's "Today" show doing what she's best-suited to do: making happy talk for the infotainment of stay-at-home moms during the daylight hours. Trying to turn her into an Edward R. Murrow for the soccer-mom set was an idiotic gimmick that was never, ever going to work (clearly) ... much like the selection of Conan O'Brien to helm "The Tonight Show," or Sarah Palin as v.p. nominee, or Ben Silverman to shepherd NBC's prime-time programming, or the ill-advised appointment and retention of more than a few magazine publishers we can think of. Stunts usually don't work in the long run, and "bold" decisions (as we have all, quite painfully, experienced over the last decade, over the course of way too many wars, and tax cuts for the rich, and giving the private sector a golden ticket with which to run amok) don't always make for "smart" ones.
