CNN Out and Not So Proud

Has CNN just given up targeting a mass audience in lieu of a niche one? Anyone who watched Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin co-host The Gayest New Year's Eve Bash Of All Time might have been wondering. The special was enough to make a Logo exec beam with pride. What on earth were they thinking?

I admit, I had consumed several glasses of Veuve at the time, but I swear I heard Griffin, live, on CNN --The Most Trusted Name In News -- joking with Cooper about 'poppers.' (For confused straight people, poppers are amyl nitrate, which some, particularly older, gays use to relax certain muscles and take away inhibitions. Something Griffin clearly didn't need that night.

Did the brassy redhead also ask Andy (her pet name for the boyish CNN anchor) for a 'bump' of blow at one point? My friend, Charlie, had to confirm that this actually happened -- or else I would have assumed the champagne had gone to my head.

Did I really see Lance Bass acting as some sort of CNN Vegas correspondent, complete with costume changes and fabulous hair? I'm assuming Adam Lambert was too butch for the gig!

While other cable stations and networks (with the exception of MSNBC, which decided it best to skip New Year's altogether) were cutting into celebrations from London, Moscow and Germany, Cooper kept tossing the few viewers they had left a scene straight outta Key West, where Sushi, a large drag Queen in a beautiful lime green dress, was lowered-in in a giant ruby red slipper, as men dressed in short shorts and baby oil and a Cher impersonator whooped it up.

So congratulations, CNN, what a way to start the new decade - out loud, yet not so proud!