Her future is so bright she has to pull down the shades.

Katie better pick up the pace.  I think Paula Zahn is available, again.

The folks at CBS News are busy consuming their own flesh.  They just don't get it.

They are busy stamping out vinyl long playing records in an age of DVDS.

They should be spending its time digging themselves out of the substantial hole they  dug for their business.  Hiring Katie was a poor call. They are stuck with her now. She  should be their solution, not the object of the ire.  Memo to the children of CBS. Go build a show around Katie which will work.  It does not have to be a traditional news show.  Put her on a couch and call it "Access Katie" for all I care.

The problems stem not from Katie's performance but from changing demographics and years of left wing bias at CBS.  The networks creditbility was also gravely injured in 2004 when it used its corporate name to falsely attack a President.

It was not Katie (although she is far left of center and oh so politically correct) who falsely accused the President of the United States with the aid of forged documents. It was not Katie who made sure the network had no ready sucessor in place to Dan Rather. It was not Katie who allowed the news staff to age without viable replacements. It was not Katie who stormed off a set in anger, leaving minutes of dead air.

Evening newscasts no longer serve an informational purpose. That's why their 18-54 ratings are appaling.  The viewers now are elderly people who have not figured out how to use computers, ipods and digital cable.  

It is a business with as much potential as the slide rule business.

Not a promising prognosis. At CBS, the question is, if not Katie than who? Turn the newscast back over to a pompous 70 year old Bob Scheiffer?  Randall Pinkston?  Septuagenarian Bill Plante?  Octogenarian Mike Wallace?

CBS was not effective in promoting a new generation of appealing news entertainers. 

They are stuck with Katie.  Now go build a show around her, that will attract a younger demographic.   It need not be a news show. Just call it "Katies Wheel of Fortune" or "Katie's View"  or "Access Katie".

Remove the bias and have some fun CBS

I am sticking to my prediction that Kutie Katie will be gone before the fall sweeps begin.  With the Clinton Broadcasting System's evening news ratings in a nasty tailspin, they will not put up with this nonsense much longer.  But it is fun to watch these left-coast, bleeding-heart, 'do as I say, not as I do' liberals get REAL good at stabbing each other in the back lately.

I believe that network execs are already meeting behind closed doors discussing replacing the perky one - what's more, I also believe that Katie knows it but is attempting to keep her game face on before the coach yanks her off the field.

You're right, allanf, they just don't get it, do they?

"Yeah, that's the ticket!" - Tommy Flanagan

Klein reports: "Katie was personally involved in every aspect of the 'CBS Evening News' makeover, from choosing the show's theme music to OKing segments of the broadcast including the one called 'Free Speech.' " (This was later junked.)

There are two ambitious dynamics underway in Katie Couric's anchorship.

1)  Katie the Savior.  Having fallen from the premiership of network news broadcasts all the way to last, CBS was desperate to reclaim the top.  Without an Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite in the wings, they couldn't do it with the old formula for success, so they decided to break-out from the Trio of Networks by doing something bold on its face --- hiring the first female anchor.  I doubt they seriously considered any male alternatives, and they thought Couric would bring her significant Today Show fans with her.  Couric wasn't a Messiah because she was not Cronkite Returning, but they gambled that she'd be the Savior.  The expectations well exceeded her, or anyone's, potential.

2) Katie the Pioneer.  With vast wealth and celebrity secured, overachiever Couric sought new worlds to concur.  She long ago embraced the Feminists Movement, and sees herself of its model of self-fulfillment:  successful business woman, superstar celebrity, and mother --- living proof that a woman can have it all.   Couric wants to continue to be a groundbreaker, and the opportunity to be the first female network anchor was too much to pass up; it would not only make her a 'First', but it would bestow to her credentials as a serious journalist.  She's probably particularly hurt because she's had almost total creative control over her shows format, and the public rejects her creation, and she doesn't want to be remembered as the First Failed Female Anchor.

With these two ambitious, mutually-reliant dynamics in play, both CBS and Couric would have to play way over their heads to succeed to even approach the expectations.  The Savior part relies on Couric's Pioneer image, which dims over time.  And her Pioneer image (or self-image) must be largely satisfied by the Savior image -- that of Couric and her ideas pulling CBS out of the basement and back on top. 

Thus far, the experiment has failed, perhaps because the viewing audience doesn't share the same expectations.  They don't care if CBS is #1, and they don't want to spend 30 minutes watching Couric just because she's the First Female Anchor.  What viewers want is objective news of issues and events that matter to them, and not CBS and Couric shaping and packaging of news.  Had CBS ever grasped that, it could've saved the millions spent on Couric to no avail.

Meanwhile, the two dynamics are failing badly as they were destined to do, and CBS is setting permanent roots in the cellar.