Archive for September 5th, 2006
In the old days of the Broadway opening, the cast would go to a nearby bar and wait until the early edition of the newspapers came out so they could read the reviews. Here’s the digital equivalent: Couric Reviews that will be in Wednesday’s papers: At The New York Times Alessandra Stanley writes “The network’s new face handled her first day at the anchor desk — a shinier, lighter one — calmly and competently.” More of a pan comes from Tom Shales at the Washington Post (”The premiere was too jammed with “new features,” as if the producers feared people would give Couric only one night’s chance before they ran away to some other option.”) USA Today’s Robert Blanco didn’t care for Morgan Spurlock or inviting viewer suggestions for a new signoff, otherwise rating the show as a “solid debut.” The San Jose Mercury News gives a favorable writeup, saying Katie Couric showed the “…same self-assured, down-to-earth professionalism that made the former “Today'’ MVP one of the most successful, people-friendly personalities in morning television.” Meantime, our friends over at Poynter got together to blog their reactions. Check it out. Lots of constructive criticism.
September 5th, 2006
This CBS News story picks up after the newscast:
When the music ended, champagne corks popped in the studio. When Couric made her way out from behind the desk to greet the Evening News staff, a martini was thrust into her hand. She downed half of it before speaking. “I have to interview the president tomorrow, so I can’t have too much,” Couric joked. Evening News Executive producer Rome Hartman praised Couric’s performance. “We’ve all looked forward to this day, but this is really day one. Imagine in six months what ass we will be kicking.“
September 5th, 2006
OK, I have a different take on Ms. Couric’s debut. She did a swell job tonight, but honestly, I’d rather watch Morgan Spurlock. I can relate to him. Katie? Not so much. My point is this, news is all about customized preferences today. If I could choose my anchor, they would be more like Spurlock and less like Katie. As I choose my news, I’m certainly not searching out for pics of Tom Cruise’s kid. I know the show is all about Katie, but I miss the open used during Schieffer’s broadcasts when all the reporters introduced their own stories. It gave a sense of perspective. It’s only the first show, but I hope CBS News has the courage to go further. Dump the readers, have Katie do more interviews. Include even more community-generated content. As far as her sign off goes, she should say, “And now join me for an online discussion of tonight’s top story,” or something to that effect. Katie, be a “guide”, not an “anchor”.
September 5th, 2006
It’s surprisingly webby. With more production value than you’ll see anywhere else, The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric debuted tonight, and it has a different look and feel than its competitors. It has very good integration with the CBSNews.com website. That alone is reason to consider it a success. A straightforward journalistic outing, the show is a news magazine, with hints of a web sensibility. People expecting to see “Katie Lite” will be disappointed. More, after the jump…
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The first-ever live simulcast of a network evening news broadcast was plagued with problems when Katie Couric debuted tonight. At first, the player took forever to load. For a few, it finally loaded and played. For others it never loaded at all. In my case, I tried to play the “on demand” version of the newscast at 7:30 p.m. (I entered a New York zip code to get around the time zone blocker — it airs at 8:30 p.m. ET on the West Coast), but it played the pre-roll ad five times in a row before the newscast began. Staci over at PaidContent tried to play it on a variety of platforms and browsers, but no luck. When it finally did play, the quality was top notch. And hey, I imagine CBSNews.com is getting hammered with traffic. In fact, I’ll venture to guess they’ve set a record.
September 5th, 2006
Katie Couric has made her debut on CBS Evening News, so now it’s time to tell us what you think about her performance, the new format, the first-ever simulcast and the new set in comments below…
September 5th, 2006
The crazy kids at Bravo’s broadband show BrilliantButCancelled.com will soon launch a contest called “Death Watch 2006″ to see who can pick the fall shows that will be the next big hit, flop or “brilliant but cancelled.” It kicks off this Friday. “This contest is a fun, offbeat way for users to roll up their sleeves and test their programming skills against those of the critics and network executives,” said Kris Slava, Bravo’s VP for Digital Content and Acquisitions. “It’s going to be very interesting to see how accurate they are.”
September 5th, 2006
TiVo susbscribers will be able to watch the new CBS show The Class in its entirety a week before it premieres on TV. Plus, TiVo viewers will be able to watch sneak peeks from Jericho, Smith and Shark. “Our goal is to introduce our fresh new comedy… to a broad, diversified, receptive audience that has the ability to start trends and generate buzz, which is exactly what TiVo offers,” said George Schweitzer, President of CBS Marketing Group. Meanwhile, NYTimes.com sums up some of TiVo’s other recent partnerships, including ITN Networks.
September 5th, 2006
According to a new AP/AOL poll only 1 in 5 web users have downloaded or watched a full-length movie or television show. Fewer than 7% of users have paid to watch video online. Analysts (and anyone with common sense) attribute the lackluster desire for to watch full-length videos online to the fact that so few PCs and TVs remain unconnected, as well as online video’s inferior quality to television. As someone with an HP Media Center, I watch tons of full-length TV shows on my 19” LCD monitor. Yes, the quality could be a bit better, but I love the control I have over my programming even more!
September 5th, 2006
The Sundance Channel may continue to be technically “commercial free,” but it has decided to hop on the product placement gravy train. The channel just announced the hiring of Kimberly Gabelmann as its new vice president of branded entertainment and sponsorship to oversee the new product placement initiative.
September 5th, 2006
New York, NY
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Katie Couric and the reworked Evening News debut on CBS tonight along with a live streaming simulcast on CBSNews.com. The simulcast will be available when the newscast airs in each time zone. Also, the new blog “Couric and Co.” has launched. Couric’s first post is about Henry Blogg, an accomplished sailor, who reminded her of a friend’s advice when she was wrestling with the decision to come to CBS. “I was anxious about making a career change,” Couric writes. “But a good friend told me: ‘Katie, a boat is always safe in the harbor. But it’s not what it was built for.’” Also, you can sign up for “Katie Couric’s Notebook,” a podcast. Plus, “Eye to Eye” will feature extended video of interviews with newsmakers. And Couric will host “First Look with Katie Couric,” a preview of some of the stories coming up in the newscast. UPDATE: Just watched “First Look” (the clip cued up on the home page) and Couric introduces us to the show producing staff of Evening News. “So, Mr. EP man, what’s the lead story?” Couric asks Rome Hartman, the executive producer, who explains it will be Lara Logan in Afghanistan. The clip was over 6 minutes long and gave a rather healthy tease to tonight’s broadcast.
September 5th, 2006
It’s verboten to have ads on the front page of a newspaper. But it’s fine to have ads on the front page of a newspaper website. Radio news people voice ads. TV news people would be assailed for doing the same. What’s going on? Why do we choose these seemingly arbitrary rules for ourselves? Indulge me for a moment, as we go through what you can and cannot do depending on your medium of choice - after the jump…
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