What would you do if you were Katie Couric and the first anniversary of your stint as anchor of the CBS Evening News was fast approaching? Would you have a big party to celebrate, get drunk, and dance wildly in your underwear in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York City? Or, would you suit up in some body armor and report from Iraq?

Personally, I'd frolic in my underwear. Katie is forgoing that frivolity and going to Iraq.

Next Tuesday and Wednesday Couric will be anchoring the news from Baghdad, which will be her first time in the war zone.

• Drew Carey injured on the set of The Price Is Right!
• This woman on Craigslist wants to help Corey Haim.
• The staff of The CBS Evening News learns how to dance to "Thriller."
• We all have a Homer Simpson gene.
• TV Barn goes behind the scenes of The Early Show.
• Get ready for the first annual Jerichon (the Jericho convention).
• Who's your TV alter ego?

I think Katie Couric giving that interview to New York has pushed this whole "will Katie leave CBS?" talk to a whole new level.

Intrade.com, a web site where you can trade event futures on political, current, financial, weather, and unique events, has listed a new market on whether or not Katie will leave The CBS Evening News by the end of the year. There are a lot of different rules (it has to be announced on or before December 31, etc) so read carefully.

Just so you know, I have absolutely no idea what any of the above means. The stock market and anything to do with finances just confuses me. It's just a little less comprehensible than Klingon to me, but it certainly sounds exciting!

After the jump, give us your opinion on when Ms. Couric will leave CBS.

CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric says that she's not sure she would have made the move from NBC if she knew she'd be doing the type of show she is doing right now.

In a New York interview, Couric says that understands that viewers hate change and that they tried to change too many things in the first couple of months that she was there, but that she's not sure she would have taken the gig if she knew it would end up as the same traditional network news show. She says there are days she wishes she hadn't taken it. She even hints that if it doesn't turn out to be the job for her, "I'll do something else that's really exciting and fulfilling for me."

I bet her CBS bosses are thrilled with those type of comments.

Former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather has some harsh words for the show and Katie Couric.

Rather was on MSNBC, talking to Joe Scarborough (he's in Imus' spot in the morning right now) via phone. Although he said that Couric is a nice person, he also said that the show has been "dumbing it down, tarting it up," and that they're really focusing too much on celebrity coverage now.

That's the opinion of New York Post columnist Cindy Adams.

Besides the hype and media attention and marketing mistakes made by CBS, Adams thinks that it's Couric's voice is turning off viewers. That regular network news viewers want the stronger, deeper voice of a male anchor like Charles Gibson or Brian Williams.

Joel told you yesterday about Rick Kaplan being brought on to replace Rome Hartman as the executive producer of The CBS Evening News. Kaplan is (supposedly) being brought on to replace some of the lighter touches that Katie Couric has brought to the anchor role with some harder news and a different angle (I think the first thing he should do is to just tell her to stop saying "hi, everyone" when she opens the show).

But I'm wondering, will a new producer really help? Nothing against Kaplan (or Couric), but aren't viewers choices when it comes to the network news based on other things besides a new producer (or a new set or new theme music or a new logo)? Sure, he can make wide, sweeping changes, and maybe they'll help the quality of the show (even if they don't help the ratings), but aren't viewers set in their ways? They like Brian Williams. They like Charles Gibson, and these two will battle for the #1 slot. The CBS Evening News has been third for a long, long time, and maybe that's just where it will be, getting 6-7 million viewers a night.

I hope they didn't think the star power of Couric was going to bring the show to #1 quickly, if ever.

On the heels of news that Rene Syler will be leaving CBS' The Early Show on December 22 (it has since been reported that Syler will also undergo surgery in January) comes news that Russ Mitchell will be joining the show as the newsanchor. The show hasn't had a real newsanchor for a while now. The news duties are usually split between the hosts (Harry Smith, Syler, Hannah Storm, and Julie Chen). Mitchell will continue as anchor of The CBS Evening News on Sundays.

Looks like they're really starting to change things up at the show. It's my guess that in January or February we'll see a major overhaul to the show, meaning new hosts and a tweaked format. Rumors continue to swirl that everyone from Anderson Cooper to Campbell Brown might be the new hosts.

This is pretty funny. Seems that The CBS Evening News had some technical difficulties the other night. Not only did the video not work on a story, but they actually had to end the show a couple of minutes early.

First we see Katie draaaaaaag onnnnnn her tease for tomorrow and her goodbye (seriously, she seems to be talking in slow motion, trying to stretch things out), and then we see the typical camera shot of her standing in front of her desk shuffling papers in her hand. But this time, after the credits end, we see her stand there. And stand there. And stand there. And stand there. And then there's a weird commercial that seems to be a tech glitch too, and after that it goes back to Katie standing there for a really long time, with the camera sweeping in and out majestically. It's very odd. I would have loved to have heard the conversation between Katie and the people behind the scenes when the show ended.

If there's one good thing to come out of this is that we finally get to hear the full version of James Horner's new theme song for the show. Video after the jump.

[via Gawker]

Oh, aren't there more important stories to worry about in these times?

There's a scandal brewing in the TV news and donut-loving communities (I guess it's no surprise that those two different communities would overlap some day). It seems that CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric mentioned how much she likes the Munchkins over at Dunkin' Donuts on her blog, and then Dunkin Donuts sent her "a gazillion of them...boxes...along with crates of piping hot coffee." Of course, this sent bloggers and people who comment on blogs over the edge, accusing Couric of breaking ethical rules and getting paid off.

Calm down, breathe, and think about this rationally. Do you think Couric wrote this so she could get free donuts? Do you really, really think that getting some free food from a local business is going to sway the way Couric covers the company or, um, donuts in general? Alarm clock catastrophe!

At this point I'd just like to say I love the new Lexus.

[via Gawker]

Like everyone else in the media universe, I was unfairly harsh to Katie Couric and the new CBS Evening News. At first, I said it was OK (based on a whopping one episode), and then after two weeks I gave the show a thumbs down. But I've been thinking about something lately.

What's the rush?

OK, so it's been a couple of weeks since Katie Couric took over The CBS Evening News. My first impression was that she's doing pretty well, not reinventing anything but not a failure either. After watching her for a while now, let me make some quick observations:

• Katie asked viewers for their ideas on how she should sign off, but maybe she should have asked them for greetings instead. I mean, "Hi everybody?" What kind of a greeting is that?

They're not just changing the sets and the theme music over at The CBS Evening News, they're also changing the personnel. In a move that is becoming more and more controversial, CBS has gotten rid of medical reporter Elizabeth Kaledin and hired Katie Couric's personal doctor, Jonathan LaPook. Kaledin says she is "heartbroken" by the move.

LaPook is not only Katie's doc, he's also the son-in-law of veteran TV producer Norman Lear.

Maybe we could use a new song for Katie, sung to the theme from one of Lear's shows, Maude:

Miss Couric had a colonosopy
She didn't care if the whole world looked
CBS got rid of Liz Kaledin
And then they hired Dr. Lapook

Hey, I never said I was Cole Porter.

[via TV Newser]