from NYPost.com
CBS is betting on Katie Couric, their new face of the evening news, in a high-profile ad campagin that will plaster her across New York City buses and promote her on the air in an ad campaign worth more than $10 million dollars. Couric, whose salary for the gig is an estimated $15 million, goes up against NBC's Brian Williams and ABC's Charlie Gibson — and their own competing ad campaigns. Starting at the beginning of September, a four-story high image of Williams will tower over the CBS headquarters in Manhattan, and Gibson will be featured in a promo campaign branding him "Your Trusted Source."
This and many other details are included in Jacques Steinberg's meaty feature in tomorrow's New York Times, which would be irritating in its oh-no-not-Katie-Couric-again overload were it not for the wealth of new information it offers, including but not limited to semi-backhanded interviews with each of the anchors (Williams: Evening news viewers are "different" from what she's used to as an anchor; Gibson, claiming not to know her start date: "Her beginning the show is not an event in this newsroom"), details from her new set (a desk finished in "ginger root maple laminate" and bright red and blue carpeting), and details from the new newscast (a segment where pundits/comedians/randoms chime in; Bob Schieffer delivering weekly commentary).
Al this for ratings that change at a rate called "glacial" by CBS News exec producer Rome Hartman today in the New York Post; says Hartman: "I think the expectation that we're gonna vault ahead of everyone and leave them in our dust is nuts." Phew, for a second we were worried that there might be some pressure on Katie.
From the New York Times:
"Facing Senator Joseph I. Lieberman's independent candidacy, Republican officials at the state and national level have made the extraordinary decision to abandon their official candidate, and some are actively working to help Mr. Lieberman win in November."
The NYT does the round-up of who's supporting whom as Republicans flee full-tilt from Alan Schlesinger: on-the-record embrace of Lieberman (Newt Gingrich, Norm Coleman, Bill Kristol and his new pals the Swiftboat Veterans For America "Vets for Freedom") or endorsing-by-omission like RNC head Ken Mehlman, John McCain (who won't campaign for him) Tony Snow and the Bush White House.
Strangely absent from this article, though, is any commentary from the Liberal party about how they see this race, Lieberman's embrace by Republicans, or whether they even consider Lieberman to be a Democrat anymore. It's a fair question, but it goes unasked (they did talk to Bill Kristol though, who said: "Foreign policy hawks and Bush doctrine believers and prowar types, we want Lieberman to win." Who exactly had ever called this guy a Democrat?).
Down at the bottom of the piece, one almost overlook's Tony Snow veering dangerously from spin into I-just-totally-made-this-up-because-it-sounded-good territory. Snow claimed that the White House had opted not to endorse Schlesinger because they had been asked by Connecticut Republicans to hold off, and backed it up thusly:
Mr. Snow said the administration had taken a similar course in past races where candidates "didn't meet the expectations of the local parties," although he could not immediately think of any.
This isn't even spin, it's dissembling — from the White House Press Secretary, whose job it is to cloud the story, cloak White House motives and make information less available. Just in case, you know, you thought it was anything different.
Update: I originally miswrote that John McCain was supporting Lieberman; my mistake. It is corrected above.
from Defamer.com
Last month, Tina Fey announced that she was leaving SNL for her new NBC comedy "30 Rock" exec produced by SNL creator Lorne Michaels and also featuring Fey's castmate and friend Rachel Dratch, who was to play the star of the sketch show "The Girlie Show" around which the comedy is based. This week, that changed — twice.
From Wednesday's Variety:
Dratch was originally tapped to play Jenna DeCarlo, an actress on "The Girlie Show" -- the show-within-a-show on "30 Rock." But with the focus of "30 Rock" moving away from "The Girlie Show" and more toward the interaction among stars Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin and Tracy Morgan, the show's exec producers decided to scrap Dratch's character.
Michaels told Variety that, instead, Dratch had been tapped to play a "wide variety of roles."
Cut to yesterday's Hollywood Reporter:
Jane Krakowski has joined the cast of NBC's upcoming comedy series "30 Rock." The former "Ally McBeal" actress will play the star of "The Girlie Show," a network variety show that serves as the backdrop for the workplace comedy, which stars Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.
Krakowski is a Tony-winning actress and comedienne, so I'm sure she's a good choice, but it's hard to argue against Dratch's hilarity — or training — as an actual player on a sketch comedy show. For comedy fans who were excited about Rachel Dratch getting her shot in the spotlight, this is a real disappointment. It's also hard to overlook that she's being replaced by a babe-o-licious blonde. But it also makes sense, because for "30 Rock" to be credible it has to accurately portray the TV show it centers around — and, let's face it, a TV show is a helluva lot more likely to star that hot blonde. Which is, I guess, the point.
Krakowski to headline '30 Rock' [THR]
Dratch latched to multiple 'Rock' roles [Variety]
