Couric on way out? That’s show biz!

By: WALT BELCHER
Media General News Service
Published: April 22, 2008

Katie Couric went from being America’s morning sweetheart to being another anchor who couldn’t fill Walter Cronkite’s shoes.

She went from perky to passionless, from being a star to being almost forgotten (except by the dwindling number of people who still watch an evening newscast).

I could go on, but you get the idea. The marriage with CBS was a mistake. The honeymoon didn’t last long. Now, after 19 months of her on the job, we’re counting the days until the divorce is officially announced.

There has been a lot of speculation in the media, fueled by reliable sources, that Couric will exit “CBS Evening News” after the presidential election, ending her $15 million annual salary before her contract expires in 2011.

Bringing the former “Today” show co-host to CBS News was an attempt by CBS President Leslie Moonves to shake up the aging program and bring more female viewers to the fold.

It hasn’t worked, partly because Couric was ill-suited for the role — apparently she lacks gravitas — but mostly because the nightly news is becoming a dinosaur.

The bulk of the viewers of evening newscasts apparently grew up watching Cronkite, so they rejected the 51-year-old whippersnapper Couric.

She debuted with impressive ratings (13 million viewers), but CBS soon fell to third place and hit as low as 5.5 million last year. Nearly 7 million watch her now.

“NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams” leads the pack with an average of 9 million viewers per night. ABC’s newscast with Charles Gibson falls in the middle at more than 8 million.

But all three are down by 6 million viewers over the past decade. And they are still declining as part of a bigger trend that is affecting all media, including newspapers. Cable and the Internet are fragmenting the audience and the advertisers.

CBS has laid off nearly 200 employees at TV stations the network owns, including high-profile anchors in Boston, San Francisco and Chicago.

Reportedly, the network is considering outsourcing news to CNN or perhaps combining forces. This has sparked speculation that Anderson Cooper might replace Couric or that Couric might replace Larry King.

Because all journalists are going through this painful change, swept along by a technology that seems to be unpredictable and hard to control, I’m feeling a little sympathy for Couric’s plight.

VIDBITS: Among the new series planned next season for the Lifetime cable network is “Trump Tower,” a prime time soap opera set in a high-rise owned by Trump. He will serve as narrator. It hasn’t been cast. Let’s hope it’s more successful than Trump Tower Tampa.

—Lifetime also is developing “Mistresses,” a new drama based on a BBC show about a group of college friends who continue to rely on one another into adulthood.

Also coming to Lifetime are “The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard,” a British-inspired drama about a woman who becomes an unlikely candidate for governor, and “Drop Dead Diva,” a comedy about a young actress who, after an untimely death, finds her spirit in the body of an “unpolished” lawyer.

Lifetime also has snatched “Project Runway” from Bravo. NBC, which owns Bravo, has filed suit against the producers of “Runway” for jumping ship.

—Meanwhile, Bravo announced it has renewed most of its other reality shows and plans to add “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” the dating series “Date My Ex” and “The Rachel Zoe Project,” about the celebrity stylist.

Bravo is developing “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover,” “Donatella” following a New York restaurateur and “Miami Social,” about South Beach professionals.

WALT BELCHER is a staff writer for The Tampa Tribune