| Topic Name: |
Another Shakeup at CNN |
| Message Name: |
Another vote for Jeff |
| Date Posted: |
06/07/2005 |
| In Reply To: |
CNN is starting to resemble WCBS-TV in New York: as ratings tubmle, viewers are subjected to an never-ending game of musical anchors, changing schedules, and the continual purging of the best people at the network in favor of untested, unproven, or previously unsuccessful replacements.
For CNN to regain its credibility it needs a statement, a signature, if you will. Counter-programming FOX NEWS with news-lite shows with solo hosts who don't have
much personality is not working, nor will it ever.
Here's a radical idea: how about a show that becomes CNN's key program and serves as the nation's first evening news cast in prime time? If I were the powers that be, I'd take a hint from the first hour and a half of the TODAY show in the 1980s and put that on from say 8-10 PM each night? Yes, a 2 hour news program, the first hour and a half of which would be serious business, the last half hour of which would be populist programing.
Larry King is dying a slow and painful death at 9PM. Will CNN keep him on in that time slot with an oxygen machine someday, or is it time to realize that new idea is needed? Anderson Cooper's show should air at 10PM; the audience it needs isn't watching at 8PM. Paula Zahn's snoozefest should be trashed, but I'd consider making her the co-host of this new show. Unfortunately, a counterpart for her is not to be found among the current stock of CNN anchors. The network has had a lack of a visible lead anchor or anchor team since Bernard Shaw left. Aaron Brown has fizzled out and Wolf Blitzer, whom the network is putting a lot of faith in, will be more than a sidekick miscast as a lead anchor. The only potential candidate from within CNN for this job is Lou Dobbs.
The show ought to focus on breaking news, obviously, and extensively cover international, local, and political stories. Must contain interviews, not just news reading. It has to be hard news focused and fast paced.
No program illustrated the effectiveness of this model than the old TODAY show. It was once the finest broadcast on television. CNN ought to be as innovative as TODAY once was, and craft a warship of an prime time newscast that sets the tone for the network. With time, it could become appointment television, and return to CNN the credibility is so desperately needs.
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| Message: |
But keep King around if he's the only prime time thing that works. Put him at 8pm, so his elderly audience doesn't have to stay up late to watch. It's great counter-programming against O'Reilly, too.
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