Happy Anniversary Katie!
So much controversy about Katie Couric taking over The CBS Evening News. And now here it is a year later (she started on September 5, 2006), so I have to ask: how do you think she's doing?I'll admit I had my doubts and might have even expressed them here, but in reality, I think she's doing fine. She can't do anything about the ratings, and the show was in third place long before Couric took over. As Bill Maher said when he was asked at the time how Couric was going to do, "I think she'll read the teleprompter fine." And she's done a fine job. Sure, there were some odd growing pains, like addressing the audience by saying "Hi everyone," the "Picture of the Week" and "First Person" segments that were dropped, and it looked a while there like they were going to end each episode by showing her legs, but the show has gotten a lot better.
Case in point: Katie is in Iraq this week. Now, it's probably not a coincidence that she's there during the first anniversary of her taking over the show, but her reports have been first rate. And last night they took the entire first 15 minutes of the show and devoted it to her reports from Iraq, went back to Harry Smith for other news (great to have pros like Smith and Russ Mitchell at the desk when Couric's away), then went back to her in Iraq to close the show. You don't see that too often on network news, where there's only 22 minutes or so each night.
How do you think Couric is doing? And don't answer my mentioning her gender. As if having testicles and a deeper voice makes a person deliver the news any better (see also Sanchez, Rick). I have no idea how long Couric is going to stay in the anchor chair, but if she leaves or is taken off it will be for reasons other than because she can't deliever the news.

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