<p>^^I agree. Katie will still be last. Diane Sawyer’s persona is one of Cool and Calm. Katie Couric is Perky. Cool and Calm can do the news better than Perky.</p>
<p>Last in TV anchor ratings. When Couric became an anchor, she had a large share of the TV audience in the competition between CBS, ABC, and NBC. Slowly but surely she slipped to last place and has been there for quite some time.</p>
<p>The morning shows (Today, GMA, whatever CBS calls it) seem to be the pathway to the nighttime anchor spot, but I don’t see why. I had no objection to Katie Couric until she chose to (or had to) do a lot of very silly things on the Today Show, including dressing up as Marilyn Monroe one Halloween. Try as I might, I can’t see her as the heir to Walter Cronkite’s mantle. Though at least she isn’t Meredith Viera. I feel that Diane Sawyer has more credibility - she’s been a news reporter forever, and GMA is marginally less embarrassing than Today.</p>
<p>Interesting how one’s opinions can evolve…I was a big Tom Brokaw fan…didn’t like Brian Williams…until he became an anchor…and now I really respect him and like his delivery of the news…</p>
<p>I thought Katie Couric was good on the Today show…and that her interviews had bite… I do not like her on the evening news… and I am a bit sad to have Diane Sawyer leave the morning time slot because I have turned into her more often recently because the Today show is just all packaged newsmercials…every piece they do has a title and theme music and graphics… I used to think they had very good chemistry on the Today show, with Anne and Al and Matt and even Meredith…but, there is almost NO content left…all wrappings!!</p>
<p>Tom Brokaw did cheesy things on The Today Show for many years before he got picked to replace John Chancellor on the NBC evening news. Didn’t seem to hurt his credibility. Unfortunately, I think women are held to a different standard.</p>
<p>Actually, I’ve never quite understood why the gravitas is so important in a news anchor. They are simply reading news stories to us. As long as they are presentable and have a nice, clear, easily-understood voice, what difference does the rest make? The British put news anchors in proper perspective. Over there they call them “news readers” - sounds far less grand.</p>
I mean that I find Meredith Viera even more annoying. I actually admire Katie Couric for all the good she’s done in raising awareness about colon cancer. She didn’t have to take that on as a cause, and she’s made a big difference in the understanding people have of the disease. I think she was a good, tough interviewer earlier in her career. I just would prefer a world where the anchors aren’t chosen primarily because the powers that be think they’re really “relate-able” (how do you spell that, anyway?).</p>
<p>I know I’m ridiculously out of sync with the times (and I know they’re just reading the news), but I would like my anchorpeople to be journalists, not personalities. Though I don’t really watch TV news anymore - I feel like I turned my back when my last kid was born and the next time I turned on the TV news, something awful had happened. :)</p>
<p>It really isn’t Meredith Viera’s fault. Once I know someone’s been on “The View,” I just hit the “ignore” command in my head. No offense meant to any of their fans - I’m sure they’re all very competent professionals. I just don’t want to watch them.</p>
<p>I have been a lifelong Today show watcher, but I just can’t bear to watch it anymore. It started to go downhill toward the end of Couric’s tenure, but really has gone off the cliff with the arrival of Meredith Vieira. Now, I liked her on The View (yes, I love that show and watch it every day, if possible!), but her schtick does not work on what’s supposed to be a news show. Kind of not her fault as the material she’s got to work with is light as a feather. I agree w/ maineparent about the lack of content. I can’t stand Diane Sawyer, but I’ve taken to watching GMA so I don’t have to sit through Meredith’s chatter and the non-news that airs on that show. It’s embarrassing. If it bleeds it leads mentality, or the German high-wire walker, blah blah blah. I actually like the third and fourth hours better because at least it’s consumer info.</p>
<p>We don’t have cable so I really rely on the morning news shows to get caught up on events of the night/day, and I get nothing anymore.</p>
<p>I like Katie a lot, but doesn’t she have any close friends who can help her do something with her hair?? For a while there I wanted to reach out to my TV screen and brush it away from her eyes. Last time I checked it looked like it was pasted to her head. :(</p>
<p>* Katie, I love you and want you to do well and I have immense respect for you as a journalist, but to be honest, your hair looks like crap! *</p>