Posted on 09/14/2006 7:13:10 AM PDT by MindBender26
Couric Furious At CBS Suits. She Claims "They Are Stabbing Me In The Back."
Katie Couric is not a happy camper this morning. The Suits at CBS have sent a strong signal throughout the news department that they have already lost faith in her. Here are the details as reported to me this AM from an old friend at West 57th.
(Here beginnith the First Lesson.)
“Promos” (short for promotional announcements) are advertisements a station or network runs to promote their own programs. A 30 second televised message advertising Veg-O-Matic is called a “spot” (short for spot advertisement.) A 30 second message advertising the CBS Evening News is called a “promo.”
Promos are the lifeblood of an individual high-profile anchor’s ratings. The commercial time committed to promos is directly linked to increased ratings.
If a station or network has faith in a rising star reporter or anchor, they will run a “heavy rotation” of promos for that person. Likewise, if the network suits have little faith in the anchor, that personality will receive few promos.
Why not give everyone plenty of promos? It’s simple; there are only so many minutes available to run promos and spots during a 24 hour period. Every time a network airs a promo, they abandon the revenue that would have been produced by a commercial run during that same time period.
(Here endith the First Lesson)
Well… a new promo schedule has just been circulated at CBS, and Perky’s promo time is WAY down. Both the frequency and desirability of time of airing have been cut drastically. This is a clear sign that the Suits have read the tea leaves and are already abandoning Perky.
Some reduction was expected after her first week but a CBS insider described the cuts as “drastic” and “approaching abandonment.” In her words, “we would give more promo time to a “safe Halloween trick-or-treating” story than Katie is going to get.
Another horribly negative comment is now accepted as fact at CBS: “Sure, some people are going to watch us/her now, but can you imagine anyone having a choice between us and Charlie Gibson on ABC going with us if/when there is another terrorist attack?”
Already some other anchors’ agents are smelling blood in the water. The big guessing game at Black Rock is now, “Which power agent is having lunch with which CBS Suit today.”
P.S. Rather is working overtime on his new satellite- fed dinky cable show. Editors who have seen first drafts of story treatments say it is WAY over the top, sort of a "Howard Beale on LSD reading Rolling Stone straight to camera, with a Texas accent" concept.
More as available.
Earth to Katie: You can dress up a show, you can give it a new coat of paint, you can give it a new set, you can give it new music, you can give it 24 hour a day promos: If the content is the same old left leaning liberal vile spewing out of the tube, the peeples are not going to watch!! They are tired of the liberal crap!!
My understanding is that she has a five year, $75 million contract. CBS must be crazy to not support her robustly.
So has she finally come up with her sign-off yet?
Yes....it goes like this:
"They are stabbing me in the back!"
So how long until she goes "Howard Beale" on them?
Perky isn't percolating with the audience.
So, Perky blames the suits for her inability to bring an audience.
[Disclaimer: I admit that I have not watched her as CBS anchorette.]
Perky, with her tour across America, seemed to have the idea that she was going to make the evening news an Oprahic touchy-feely.
If the suits are already distancing themselves from her, the better come up with her 'sign-off slogan' soon. She may need it.
Now, I'm not a highly paid TV exec or anything like that, but don't you think the time to ask this question was BEFORE you hired this lightweight?
Nothing will change for at least 6 months - no one is even having meetings on this. You don't throw 15 million dollars at someone and expect them to change viewing habits in a week.
While I am not a fan of her's and have not watched the show, nor do I have plans to - I will give it a few months to settle in.
Your content is inexcusable.
Not so sure about that. Err America is close to filing for bankruptcy and may shut down (for good). However, Katie can always join Al Jazeera.
She won't last until this December as anchorliberal at CBS. Guaranteed.
The Perky One has just about perked at age 49. It has nothing to do with her manifest lack of ability. It's just looks, and Couric is beginning to look like a Triassic rock formation.
I think it lasted about 20 minutes when they realized she was turning it into "Entertainment Tonight" with the Suri Cruise pictures.
Ratings ("Sweeps") months are Nov, Feb, May, July. It will be two weeks after the end of one of those months.
I'm betting they'll up her presense on Sixty Minutes and ease her into 'special' projects, primetime laments and exposes.
"They are stabbing me in the back."
No, Katie, that's Dr. Plotz and his amazing colonoscope. The anaesthesia should kick in any second now.
Welcome stateside. See # 77.
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