Jim Bell Wouldn’t Mind If Katie Couric (i.e. Babe Ruth) Phoned It In

By Brian 

Connie Chung would hire Katie Couric as anchor of the CBS Evening News, Gail Shister says. (Would Sean McManus do the same?) Anyway, here’s the highlight of the story:

  Today executive producer Jim Bell expects Couric to stay, but acknowledges that her loss would be huge.

“She’s Babe Ruth. She can do it all.

“You need a difficult political interview at 7 a.m., she nails it. You need a crime story at 7:30, she nails it. Same thing for cooking, or women’s health segments. All the sweet spots in morning TV, she can do.”

Even if Couric gets to the point where she’s phoning it in, Bell’s cool with it. “Babe Ruth phoning it in is like getting 110 percent of anyone else you can name.”

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