Bill Carter: CNN Is “Failing At Night” Because “It Has Bland People”

Last night on PBS’s Charlie Rose Show, guest host Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly talked to a panel of TV critics about the past and upcoming television season. The program included this interesting exchange about cable news by Tucker and Bill Carter of the NYT:

BILL CARTER: I think what you notice what is happening in CNN is it’s failing at night because it has bland people.

KEN TUCKER: Anderson Cooper bland? I beg to differ, sir.

CARTER: And MSNBC getting better, because Keith Olbermann is getting better, and he is not a bland person. So I think you need edge in those shows to distinguish them.

TUCKER: I think the Keith Olbermann feud with Bill O’Reilly…

CARTER: Brilliant.

TUCKER: …has been one of the most entertaining news stories of the year. I mean, I could watch those guys go at it every night.

> Update: 3:37pm: “Of course Ken Tucker would say he doesn’t think Cooper is bland, he gets a paycheck from Time Warner,” an e-mailer says. “I think they are all forced to pray at the alter of Cooper.”