Back a couple of years ago, when there seemed to be a new "Katie Couric is going to leave 'The CBS Evening News' soon" story every hour, one of the names mentioned as her replacement was CNN's Anderson Cooper. Now it looks like those rumors are back, and Cooper's name is being brought up again, only this time a little bit more seriously.

The New York Times is reporting that CBS execs have talked to Cooper about the anchor position. Cooper is already part of the CBS family, contributing to '60 Minutes,' so it's not something that is coming out of left field.

Cooper currently hosts his own show, Anderson Cooper 360' on CNN, but a network anchor job still has some cache in the industry, even if it seems people are getting their news in other ways. But hey, there are hundreds of cable news anchors and shows but only three network news shows, so it's a desirable thing. Though I wonder if Cooper would be able to anchor at CBS and still hope around the globe during a crisis as much as he can at CNN.

We haven't heard much "Katie replacement" talk lately. In fact, things have seemed to settle down in that area. The network was fully behind Couric and she settled into the anchor chair quite well (even if her ratings didn't take her out of third place - but who knows if anything or anyone can change viewing habits). One thing is for sure: if Cooper does get the job, he has to stop talking so fast.

Update: CNN says Cooper has never been in talks with CBS.