Apparently the dutiful Joseph Fein was overcome last week by the mind-bending horrors of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos Sixty Minutes, since we were forced to do without his fisking of that alleged news program last week. He’s back this week, though, with a double-header for your reading pleasure!
Category: CBS
Good-Bye, Harry and Maggie
When your Big Three morning show has got ratings in the cable-TV range, something’s got to give:
CBS News’ “The Early Show” ousted long-time anchors Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez on Tuesday to rescue the low-rated, third-place finisher among morning talk shows.
Starting on January 3, Erica Hill and Chris Wragge, who have been co-anchors of the Saturday morning telecast of “The Early Show” will take the weekday positions of Smith and Rodriguez, CBS News said. . . .
In the most recent week, rivals “Today” on NBC pulled in roughly 5.6 million viewers a day, compared with 4.6 million for ABC’s “Good Morning America” and 2.9 million for “The Early Show,” according to audience tracker Nielsen. . . .
Of course, nobody expects Eric and Chris to get higher ratings than Lauer on “Today” or Stephanopoulos on “GMA.” But CBS had to change something, and so it’s good-bye, Harry and Maggie.
Presented for your consideration…
Sixty Minutes has been around since 1968, though given the show’s long-standing predilection for character assassination, cheap shots, and “investigative reporting” (but I repeat myself), one might be excused for thinking that it had been around even longer. Most conservatives have long ago given up on this miserable excuse for a “news program”, correctly evaluating it as a wretched hive of scum and agitprop, and spend the time in more productive pursuits. Still, some courageous Americans keep watch on the show so the rest of us can be spared for other, better things; one of those Americans is Joseph Fein, who comes to us from The Valley of the Shadow with a fisking of this week’s adventure into what passes for “journalism” among the demoralized remnants at CBS News. Enjoy.
CNN’s Cooper to Replace Couric?
There are rumors and denials that CBS is trying to recruit CNN’s Anderson Cooper as a replacement for Katie Couric, who’s been stuck in the Nielsen ratings basement almost from the moment of her “Evening News” debut.
A Cooper-for-Couric switch would not significantly alter the traditional liberal slant at CBS. However, the utter flop of Couric as anchor is a thumb in the eye of feminism, so at least we have that to celebrate.
Not that Anderson Cooper is the personification of manliness or anything. If manliness is what CBS wants, they should try Rachel Maddow.
We Feel Your Pain. Really. We Do.
Earlier that morning, CBS News executives and bureau chiefs, led by senior vice president Linda Mason, told their employees that 2009 had been a disastrous year in the ad market. They had no cable operation to buoy the sinking revenues. It’s not you, was the message, it’s us. Dozens of employees — including staff members in D.C., San Francisco, Miami, London, Los Angeles and Moscow — were being let go. The changes were effective immediately. There would be no buyouts. According to one longtime staff member, the network had long ago negotiated away most of the severance clauses in staff members’ contracts.
But in the end, the cuts were surprisingly deep. By Monday afternoon, staffers from Washington to L.A. were sputtering in disbelief as they heard of top producers on the chopping block.
“Add these to the jobs not saved category.” I think I just heard General Westmoreland‘s ghost laughing at that joke.