Former Today coanchor Katie Couric will take over the desk at CBS Evening News on Sept. 5. The program will have a new set, new theme music ("Aaron Copeland-esque," says Couric) and some touches that will aim to distinguish it from NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and ABC World News with Charles Gibson (which are ahead in the ratings). The Biz recently talked to Couric about the challenges ahead.
TVGuide.com: Are you nervous at all?Katie Couric: Yeah, of course. It's a new job and a new challenge and something I haven't done before on a full-time basis. So I would say I'm slightly nervous, but also really excited and anxious to get started.
TVGuide.com: What's your biggest
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Jim Murphy has returned to the morning-TV wars. On July 19 he was named the new executive producer of ABC's Good Morning America, which has been entrenched in second place behind NBC's Today for over a decade. But Murphy knows it could be worse: In the 1990s he helmed CBS This Morning, which struggled to get attention because the network still disdained morning TV's breezy blend of newsmaker interviews, cooking segments and pop concerts. That's no longer the case. As Murphy told the Biz, morning shows are now the main profit engines of all news divisions and are getting more attention than ever. We talked to Murphy about the new gig he's taking on after a six-year stint at CBS Evening News.
TVGuide.com: You left morning TV in 1998. How has it changed since then?Jim Murphy: It's become more competitive, for all the obvious reasons. It's the on
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If you haven't seen Connie Chung's swan song on her MSNBC show Weekends with Connie and Maury, you're one of the few. Her parody of "Thanks for the Memory" — warbled off-key while she writhed on top of a piano in a slinky gown — has become the watercooler video clip of the moment. The segment racked up thousands of views on YouTube.com and was dissected on Today and the cable news channels. The Biz spoke with Chung, who left for a family vacation before she became a singing sensation, to discuss this surprise phenomenon. We can report that the veteran newswoman is having more than a few laughs over all the attention.
TVGuide.com: Clearly doing the song was a joke. You've done stuff like
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MSNBC marks its 10th year on the air this summer, but there isn't a lot to celebrate. Even with the muscle of NBC News behind it, the cable news network has lagged in third place behind Fox News Channel and CNN in recent years. The powers that be at 30 Rock hope to jump-start the operation with the surprising appointment of Dan Abrams as its new general manager. The network legal correspondent and host of The Abrams Report will run the day-to-day operation and report to Phil Griffin, a senior executive at NBC News who also keeps his eye on Today. The Biz talked to Abrams, son of well-known First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, about his new job behind the camera.
TVGuide.com: So how was that first day?Dan Abrams: A lot of phone calls. A lot of interviews. But also a lot of walking around. I'm trying to make it cl
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Question: Read the Dispatch on Katie Couric. Agreed with everything you said. I've read a lot about her leaving Today, but in all that I've read, I haven't seen any mention of when she'll actually start anchoring CBS Evening News. Do you have any idea?
Answer: She'll begin her reign in the CBS Evening News anchor chair in September. That's when Meredith Vieira settles into Katie's old job at Today as well.
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