TV News Comings and Goings

So many news anchors arriving and departing - but mostly departing . . .

Katie Couric, having succeeded at making the evening news perky and bubbly but having failed at practically everything else, is stepping down as CBS's weeknightly news anchor. She's expected to leave the network with much more grace and class than Charlie Sheen did. :-D

She'll be replaced by Scott Pelley, who has been a reporter on the Sunday news magazine "60 Minutes." Her final broadcast as CBS's chief anchor will be May 19 . . . a Thursday. Gosh, they can't let the woman finish out the week? I'll have more to say on this subject later.

Ironically, Couric's replacement at NBC's "Today," Meredith Vieira - the woman who put the "broad" back in "broadcasting" (her words) - is leaving that show. Her last broadcast will be June 8 (a Wednesday - geez, can't any of these women finish out a week? Cronkite finished out his last week!) Ann Curry will become "Today"'s chief female anchor, and Natalie Morales will replace Curry as the show's newsreader. Savannah Guthrie is joining for the show's 9 AM Eastern hour.

The bad news here is that Guthrie is leaving MSNBC's "The Daily Rundown," the cable network's 9 AM Eastern show. Chuck Todd will continue as a solo act - well, unless you count his ridiculous goatee as a partner.

So, that's it - I'm done watching that show. You don't think I watch it for the incisive analysis or the White House soup of the day announcement, do you? ;-)

While all of this was going on, Jim Lehrer quietly (and classily) announced that, he will no longer be a part of the regular team on the PBS NewsHour after Friday, June 3 (he gets to finish out the week). Lehrer has been easing himself out of the NewsHour's quotidian activities, surrendering his daily anchoring duties, appearing less frequently, and removing his name from the program's title. Lehrer, who turns 77 on Thursday, is pretty much going out like Cary Grant. He senses it's time to leave even as NewsHour viewers still look forward to hearing from him, and so he's stepping down. Jim's not going away entirely; he'll still moderate discussions between Mark Shields and David Brooks on Fridays. And even though Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer are both going to be largely off the air, their solid journalism will continue in spirit and in name; their MacNeil-Lehrer Productions remains responsible for getting the PBS NewsHour on the air.

Ob-la-di, ob-la-da. Life goes on.

And if you want some fun . . . don't watch Chuck Todd on his own.

:-p