Video: Katie Couric debuts on the CBS Evening News

posted at 7:57 pm on September 5, 2006 by Allahpundit

I did promise Mary K, who’s gone and written a thoughtful post about it.

Introduced by Uncle Walter, her first story a report about how we’re “back to the drawing board” in the war on terror, her first guest in the new “freeSpeech” segment lefty D-lister Morgan Spurlock. Plus a hard-hitting segment on baby pictures of Tom Cruise’s kid.

Yep, sounds about right.

She did include Ron Burgundy in her compilation of famous anchor sign-offs, though. As well as Rather’s infamous “courage” clip, which might or might not have been a swipe.

Eh, whatever. Limbaugh’s cameo is on Thursday.

Here are a few minutes of highlights. Heavily edited, needless to say.


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This was so lame, I’m sorry I missed Brit and the Panel for it. I felt like I needed an insulin shot after it was over. Ick.. .

MsUnderestimated on September 5, 2006 at 8:17 PM

Yup. Watched it. And won’t again till maybe Thursday with Limbaugh. Lacking gravitas, as they say. You can see the morning show influence with the — geez– Cruise piece.

Good score with the Taliban piece, but might have been in the can for 3 weeks waiting for Katie.

Interview with Friedman seemed scripted. That was pure Morning show; all that was missing was “many say that….”

Sticky Notes on September 5, 2006 at 8:21 PM

Be sure to log on to cbsnews.com and give her some ideas. I had tons ‘o fun over there until I accidentally clicked on a banner ad thus increasing the revenue stream at the Complete BS network.

Valiant on September 5, 2006 at 8:22 PM

What’s the difference between this and Entertainment Tonight?

Well, thanks for the video low-lights, now I know I haven’t missed anything.

Kini on September 5, 2006 at 8:24 PM

She reads a teleprompter really well, doesn’t she.
After all, this is not about reporting, it all about me…me…me! It is like high school all over again.
Reason number 862 why I do not watch network news anymore.
Internet news is the future. Good night and good luck, Katie. Leave the news to the grown ups.

RobCon on September 5, 2006 at 8:34 PM

I’m Katie Couric, thank you so much for watching….Layers

The Ugly American on September 5, 2006 at 9:17 PM

I’m definitely going to watch on Thursday. Afterwards, they will miss those sort of ratings forevermore.

DannoJyd on September 5, 2006 at 9:28 PM

This is going to be so lame. By the way, does anyone else agree that she doesn’t have an authoritative enough voice for this type of gig?

RightWinged on September 5, 2006 at 9:46 PM

I’m Katie Couric, let’s photoshop the world together.

Enoxo on September 5, 2006 at 9:50 PM

I didn’t watch. From the reviews, I didn’t miss anything. Time well spent doing something else.

Lawrence on September 5, 2006 at 9:52 PM

Well, she’s not been on out here yet as it’s only 4:04 p.m., HST. Reading the reviews, I think I’ll pass & instead watch Clifford, The Big Red Dog, with the kids.

Catie96706 on September 5, 2006 at 10:05 PM

uh yeah ok, so? What am I supposed to do now?
She had her overhyped debut. Yippie.
Now what?

Has the country gone nuts? Everyone acts like we’re supposed to drop everthing we’re doing to watch Rather’s replacement? Just tell the news like it is and we just might like you katie. Get caught fabricating news and your no better than the others you replaced.

‘Original Star Trek’ reruns were on, so I missed her. Oh well.

johnnyU on September 5, 2006 at 10:57 PM

Courics
Bull
Shit

roninacreage on September 5, 2006 at 11:05 PM

After all of the hype it was just the same old crap I didn’t want to watch last week.

I didn’t expect much but you’d think CBS would have come up with something better than that after all the hype.

4thelittleguy on September 5, 2006 at 11:22 PM

Allah, sure would appreciate if you could do the Rush 90 seconds for the post here. As much as I like and listen to Rush daily, I don’t give a flying you know what to turn on any MSN/DBM especially with the bitch of all Bias. Hey, did I just coin a phrase?????? Consider it trademarked as of this post.
Lloyd
AUSPATRIOTMAN

auspatriotman on September 5, 2006 at 11:23 PM

“This is going to be so lame. By the way, does anyone else agree that she doesn’t have an authoritative enough voice (or personality) for this type of gig?

I do Righwing. Big time.

“I’m katie Couric and I hope you will be watching tomorrow”
( I’m so scarred crapless that the ratings are going to go immeadiately in the tank after tonite. I knew we shouldnt’ve shown that freeking Gunga Dan)

auspatriotman on September 5, 2006 at 11:28 PM

Did find it funny that she chose to plug Rush’s appearance TWO DAYS FROM NOW. Even she knows that he will be the only reason anyone watches after tonight. But let’s be honest. Rather was obnoxious and a bore. Couric is obnoxious… but at least more pleasant to look at. Then again, who the hell cares. Nobody is watching anyway.

Sugar Land on September 5, 2006 at 11:34 PM

Im watching….

duffyb on September 5, 2006 at 11:46 PM

I lurch ahead when I read that “freeSpeech,” like somebody pushes your chair just when you’re saying the words. That’ll be gone soon.

And, about the voice, I never paid enough attention to it, but for the first time in my life, I was really listening to her words, and I have an interesting observation you may not think about. Scrub back through when all them folks are doing their sign-offs, and listen to the voices. Notice anything similar about them?

They all sound newsy. Ted Knight had the perfect caricature of the news guy. Now, at the risk of sounding even more like the chauvinist I already am, putting a Lady Anchor up there just isn’t going to work. She sounds like…well…a sexy Lady Anchor, not some guy who’s going to tell me the way it is.

It’s just like your family doctor, you want that booming, comforting authoritarian voice telling you the world’s coming to an end, but does it with such stage presence that you’re enraptured by the very words he utters, even to the point of turning up the volume to help ignore the shotgun blasts and flying horsemen outside.

I don’t get that with Sexy Voice Lady Anchor. All I wanna do is figure out a way to pitch some roofies in her Shirley Temple, not listen to her tell me that I “really need to measure the sconces for the drapes” or whatever it was she said. There’s no room for Sexy Voice Lady Anchor; television news is man’s work.

I am man, hear me oink.

MacStansbury on September 5, 2006 at 11:54 PM

Is it me, and it me be with all these FauxPhotography incidents around here, or does Suri Cruise look at alot older and bigger than a 4-month old? Fold head of long hair, able to hold her head up, almost the length of Holmes’ torso…

Tell me I’m wrong. Please? That they didn’t stage a photoshoot with another baby.

Enoxo on September 6, 2006 at 12:33 AM

I wish we had an edit button. Excuse the typos, I was watching the video and typing at the same time.

Enoxo on September 6, 2006 at 12:34 AM

Enoxo, I’ll be happy to tell you you’re wrong, she looked like a normal four-month-old to me. :)

As for Couric … I haven’t and don’t watch TV news or talk shows, so I’ve mostly only ever seen stills of her before. I assume she always tips her head to her right like that. That’s A-1 reason not to watch. Gaaah.

As for “freeSpeech,” well, did anybody ever have any success at making discourse more civil by giving somebody an “unfiltered, uninterrupted” platform? Oxymoron alert.

Anwyn on September 6, 2006 at 2:26 AM

Nope, sorry – I’m not going for it. I had no interest in watching CBS’ “Katie Couric Love-In” live, and no interest in watching the lowlight reel now, regardless how funny it may be. She has nothing intelligent to offer, regardless whether Rush or anyone else of interest happens to be a guest. I’ll gladly tune into their shows, but I want nothing to do with hers.

SpartRan on September 6, 2006 at 2:31 AM

I dunno, that baby looks an awful lot like both of them. The hair is kind of freaky, but some kids do have that much hair that young. Cute kid.

Jim Treacher on September 6, 2006 at 2:56 AM

Imagine CBS officials’ response to the criticism that Katie’s big, opening night featured boring stories. “We can’t just make up the news , to be exciting.”

eagles5 on September 6, 2006 at 3:36 AM

I was busy watching my fingernails grow.

I can hear her saying “I’m just like you, only better”.

I hope she lives up to her title of “anchor” and sinks straight to the bottom. After all, the new music for the program was composed by the same fellow who wrote the music for “Titanic”.

doingwhatican on September 6, 2006 at 7:50 AM

In real news, mad props to Mitt Romney for his big juicy “Screw you” to Khatami and his dhimmi friends at Harvard.

Romney orders state agencies to boycott former Iranian president’s visit to Harvard

Pablo on September 6, 2006 at 8:09 AM

I am betting whenever Rush appears, ratings spike, but we will never know.

CrimsonFisted on September 6, 2006 at 8:38 AM

I couldn’t get past her opening comment about “back to the drawing board!” Of course it’s back to the drawing board my bovine beauty! The terrorists are mutating daily of if we don’t “re-draw” we’re toast.

Unfortunately, that’s the problem with the Dems, they never go back and reevaluate. Reevaluation, in their minds, might just indicate they had been incorrect, and they will never allow themselves to be viewed as having been incorrect.

Dread Pirate Roberts VI on September 6, 2006 at 8:38 AM

*YAWN*

speed647 on September 6, 2006 at 8:47 AM

If I were a CBS major shareholder, I would phone the head of the news division and ask for Couric’s $15 million back. I do not think that she, or any of the other network anchors, are worth that salary in the declining industry of TV newsertainment. So Couric can speak at 300 syllables per minute for 20-30 seconds while inroducing reporters with stories. So can the anchorbabes in Elmira, Klamath Falls, and most local cable news operations. If a competent anchorman or anchorwoman can be plucked from a local operation and seated in the anchor chair for $500K, then Couric must sell an additional hour of ad time, or produce an additional $14.5 million in profits from increased ad rates, to be worth the difference. I doubt that she will be able to do that.

Then there are the news judgement issues, but those are better addressed after a period of time. I’m willing to give Couric a mulligan for last night’s show.

chsw

chsw on September 6, 2006 at 9:15 AM

First does anyone pay attention to the CBS evening news anymore to care about this?
Secondly, “I racked my brain…” Ohh the one-liners from that one statement are endless.
Thirdly, what no pictures of Suri’s first poop?

vcferlita on September 6, 2006 at 9:20 AM

yes ‘suri’????? typical perky, corny, crap.

As for the baby, typical 4 month old. they can hold their heads, roll over, and do lots of things. no faux-tography there. one of my kiddos crawled at 5 months and walked at 9. And the hair is precious. just put a little bow in it!

I’ll just watch her on Thursday and then tune out. there’s no reason to watch the perky one – we have HotAir and Drudge…

pullingmyhairout on September 6, 2006 at 9:25 AM

Oh let me just flip over to CBS instead of watching Special Report so I’ll have something stupid and completely irrelevant to talk about on Wednesday…. NOT!

Go Katie, go Katie, it’s her birthday, it’s her birthday…

Cary on September 6, 2006 at 9:38 AM

I know I’m going to piss off everyone, but it has to be said.

THIS MCP(Oink, Oink) thinks that the only reason k.c. is on CBS is the announcement of “Naked News” style broadcasts to begin in a few month’s time.

TAKE YOURSELF OFF, KATIE!

tormod on September 6, 2006 at 9:58 AM

The only thing I watch on CBS is Survivor. Hmmmmmm …. that could be a new angle for a Survivor series …. news broadcasters.

darwin on September 6, 2006 at 10:01 AM

What an fugly outfit. White on black? Bubbie button in the middle? Puh-lease.

Paging “What Not To Wear”.

WriterMom on September 6, 2006 at 10:24 AM

Got a kick out of Limbaugh’s website explanation of his appearance. This guy really needs to get out more, and not just to score some hillbilly heroin.

First he whines (read it for yourself, tell me this isn’t whining) about how he got so many e-mails accusing him of God knows what when the announcement of his appearance on CBS News w KC was made–it appears it’s news to Rush that his fan base is shall we say easily misled?

Second, he offers his reasoning: conservatives are such an oppressed minority in this country that he can’t pass up this chance. Well, that speaks for itself.

Third, and this is the homerun, he says he is willing to do it because he will have the chance to express “our” side with “no debate”. Wheee, that was a close one!!!

honora on September 6, 2006 at 10:31 AM

What? No shot of her legs??? And how come her head tilts so much? It should be easy to keep straight since there is nothing in there [rim shot].

Mallard T. Drake on September 6, 2006 at 10:35 AM

Perky Katie is destined to be a ratings disaster for CBS. Here’s a few other people who would have been a better fit for the CBS evening news anchor slot …………

George Clooney
Chuck Schumer
Flavor Flav
Dave Letterman’s Mom
John Madden
Anyone named Walter

fogw on September 6, 2006 at 11:41 AM

Hey, guys & gals, let’s go easy on Perky Katie – after all, she’s “America’s Sweetheart!”

Any wagers on how many points CBS Evening “News” ratings are going to fall from yesterday’s spike once people figure out that they’ve got the proverbial, “Bubble-headed bleach blonde, comes on at five?”

Spurius Ligustinus on September 6, 2006 at 12:16 PM

I had an interesting thought … isn’t the correct Serbo-Croatian pronounciation of ‘Couric’ more like ‘Courich’? Maybe Dan was just predicting the name of his permanent replacement.

Katie should close her broadcasts by saying “Bethany!”

The Monster on September 6, 2006 at 12:50 PM

Where are the smart glasses?!

vcferlita on September 6, 2006 at 1:18 PM

“Thank You for watching this evening. I’m Katie Couric – still hoping that Saddam makes it safely to Syria”

I didn’t watch her either but her invitation for signoff suggestions was too good to pass up. I’m with Valiant….
I had way too much fun and could have spent the entire day sending suggestions!

dbdiva on September 6, 2006 at 1:32 PM

Laura Logan goes behind the enemy lines with the Enemy and this is good journalism. I think Laura Logan is a traitor. I could care less about the Taliban and what they think.

Logan should have given our Military where they were and gave them a heads up on the interview so when she finished we could kill them all.

Do you think that Edwin R Murrow would have gone behind the enemy lines with Japan or the Germans to get their viewpoint?

The MSM are a bunch of traitors IMHO

ScottyDog on September 6, 2006 at 1:52 PM

What? No shot of her legs???

She got that in during her interview with Tom Friedman.

Jim Treacher on September 6, 2006 at 2:03 PM

You know you’re lacking any sort of gravitas when you have to have your audience make suggestions about what you should say on sign off. Lame…but then…we ALL knew that before she started.

This is like Sorority Girl edition of the news. Like, you know?

Hmmmmm…serious news from a “Catie”? Um…nope. A “Katherine”, more like it. (Hi Ms. Ham!)

tickleddragon on September 6, 2006 at 3:35 PM

My Colon and I bid you a good night. What a joke she will be.

marktwain on September 6, 2006 at 4:51 PM

honora, Rush has a nuanced sense of humor… try listening to him for a while…you’ll catch on.

I was hoping she’d use Ron Burgundy’s better sign off:

Go fu*k yourself America!

Because I think that’s how she really feels.

Legend has it that Savage might get a minute in the free speech segment.

NTWR on September 6, 2006 at 5:14 PM

Hey, Lawrence, the NYT sure ain’t the NY Post, bro. And there are no other comments worth making once you’ve read the Andrea Peyser evisceration… Whoa.

Jaibones on September 6, 2006 at 5:21 PM

WOW, TALK ABOUT AN EMPTY SUIT. Is just me, or does this woman possess all of the “gravitas” of a beauty pageant winner, formulating a plan for world peace?

Soothsayer on September 6, 2006 at 5:35 PM

Do you think the white on black outfit was an attempt to look like the CBS logo?

Rose on September 6, 2006 at 9:50 PM