According to pretty much everyone you ask, Katie Couric is on her way out as host of the CBS Evening News. Well, everyone but CBS that is. The network – and Couric’s people – are all insisting that everything is well and good. However both traditional and internet media have been buzzing all week that Couric will be let go right after the inauguration in January – if not sooner. Everyone seems to have their own thoughts on why the Evening News has had such lackluster ratings under Couric – but no matter what your theory, one thing is undeniable – they’re not getting any better.

Now names of potential replacements are being bandied about – and the name at the top of the list is CNN’s silver fox, Anderson Cooper. In fact it seems CNN and CBS might be considering a trade of sorts. Apparently that happens in both sports and evening news. Who knew?

Katie Couric for Anderson Cooper? A blockbuster trade of TV superstars was floated Friday by TV insiders as a solution to CBS’ Couric problem. Cooper, CNN’s prematurely gray prince of cable TV, would replace Couric as the anchor of CBS’ “Evening News.” He already is a contributor to CBS’ “60 Minutes,” they said.

And CNN will eventually need to replace the iconic Larry King, who is 74. Why not Couric, who remains a marquee talent despite being a $75 million flop for CBS, the insiders said. “Take Katie off the ‘Evening News,’ let her do Larry King, and then let Cooper anchor,” one network source said.

Couric, 51, has said only that she was “working hard and having fun” since word broke this week that she was heading for a humiliating exit after just 18 months as anchor. During her tenure, CBS has been mired in third place in the ratings and, as a result, cost the network millions in lost revenue.

[From the New York Daily News]

NBC’s David Gregory is also being considered as a possible replacement anchor, and both Harry Smith and Bob Schieffer are potential interim candidates if Couric bolts before the inauguration. And considering just how much gossip is being e-whispered, I couldn’t blame anyone for wanting to sit through another nine months of speculation.

Somehow Katie’s style does seem to make more sense in an in-depth interview show. And it sure as hell is time for Larry King to retire. Maybe she could bring a little respectability back to that show. And Anderson Cooper shines wherever he is. Maybe it’s the gray hair… maybe the blue eyes… or the blue shirts that accent the blue eyes just so… but I digress. This is about important newsy things. Anderson could bring much-needed viewers back to the CBS Evening News. And my cable service is kind of spotty, so I’d really prefer he move to network television. And that’s a damn good reason right there.

I love stories of celebrity stalkers. They make you feel a little bit saner by comparison. So you spent three hours googling that guy you have a crush on. At least you didn’t send him six vials of your fingernail clippings. But I’m guessing celebrities don’t get quite the same level of comfort that their stalkers give me. And to be fair, they run the gamut from relatively benign to totally flipping crazy to murderous. On Friday Anderson Cooper filled in for Regis on “Live with Regis & Kelly.” In the opening banter, Anderson mentioned that he was renovating his apartment and had just gotten a call from the contractor. Apparently a woman who has been stalking him for over two years had just shown up at his apartment – with 6 bags in tow. She told the contractor that she was moving in. And was not joking.

Anderson is really generous in his description of the crazy lady. “I don’t know if stalking is the right word exactly… but emailing me aggressively for the last two years.” Talk about diplomacy. Most people would say something like, “Look there is this mentally deranged whack job who’s batshit crazy and stalking me.” The worst thing he said was, “So that was kind of creepy.” He also mentioned that he had no idea what his stalker looks like. Something tells me I should probably spend less time chilling around Columbus Circle hoping to run into Anderson Cooper for the next few weeks.

So much of what’s been reported about Heath Ledger’s death has been speculation. In our speedy society where we need all the information right away, people just don’t seem to be able to wait. But death investigations take a lot time, from the police to the coroner to the toxicologist. Since people are so eager for information and answers right away, a lot of local and major news networks have been reporting a great deal of speculation – and not always clearly citing it as such. Though it’s rare, in this particular instance it seems like bloggers have been more restrained and ethical than traditional media. When we’ve written things that were speculation, we tried to make it very clear that’s all it was, and we were in no way reporting facts. For the time being, there is not much left to this story. Heath’s funeral will take place, and there won’t be much information until the toxicology results are back. Because people are so interested, news networks seem to keep rehashing the story over and over again, and report on every possible detail. CNN’s Anderson Cooper finally had enough, and wrote on his blog that there would be no more Ledger coverage on 360.

For the last two nights we have reported on actor Heath Ledger. His shocking death is clearly a story a lot of people are interested in, but tonight we will not be reporting more on it. The truth is there is not really anything new to report.

The full results of the various tests done on Mr. Ledger will not be ready for perhaps a few weeks and there is very little new information. I have no doubt other networks will spend a lot of time tonight discussing his death and the various rumors about what might have caused it, but I am not a fan of speculation, so unless there is something really new to discuss we probably won’t be covering it anymore anytime soon.

[From CNN.com]

I think that part of the human condition is a difficulty in letting go, especially when someone has died. There’s this feeling that you aren’t honoring someone if you go back to business as usual. But rehashing the same old thing over and over doesn’t do anyone any good, and reporting on gossip and speculation is downright detrimental. Even Star Jones has said enough is enough – and hopefully other reporters will jump on the bandwagon. It’s not disrespectful for the rest of us to move on – and it will give Heath’s family time to grieve in private.

Do you wanna date Anderson Cooper? Pop.nography renders the relevant boyfriend facts from his interview in The March Men’s Journal. Depending on your perspective he’s either very low maintenance or highly Obsessive Compulsive:

a) He eats the same food at every meal for months on end.
b) He doesn’t celebrate his birthday, Thanksgiving or Christmas and claims not to understand New Year’s Eve, though he is contractually obligated to celebrate on-air.
c) He has no interest in attending any of his mother’s family reunions, no matter how rich and fabulous and crazy the Vanderbilts may be.

I’m going to vote for low maintenance. I still remember fondly Monsieur Cooper’s elegantly argued essay on going grey and letting the going be good.

Going gray is like ejaculation. You know it can happen prematurely, but when it actually does, it’s a total shock …

My advice? Give in to gray. Make the most of it while you’re still young. Remember, there will come a time in the not too distant future when you’re no longer prematurely gray. People will stop using the word distinguished.

By then, you’ll have a wattle, baggy eyes and sagging skin, and pretty young things won’t even notice your hair. Only other guys will.

Bald guys.

Burn. To Bald Guys.

The whole ‘premature E-jack thing was a real shocker of an opening. Even that Vanderbilt prose is rich, fabulous and crazy.

In a parenthetical note the pop.nographers add

Actually, the funniest part of the article is where it says that “gawker.com, a New York media blog, occasionally suggests that Cooper is gay.” Occasionally? Suggests?

It’s always nice to see blogs get their nod in the dying print media, even Men’s Journal. Also its hilarious that Men’s Journal thinks they need to allege Gawker’s finally tuned sense of Andersonian sexuality. Manhattan informers are constantly sending in daytime spottings of the silver fox shopping at the Farmers Market with his boyfriend or nighttime reports of the gunmetal grey lothario dancing around Roxy with a bevy of shirtless muscle boys and an artfully placed baseball cap.

Pic from innovationsinnewspapers