Over the weekend, the New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley gave her take on the debuts of Anderson Cooper’s new daytime show and Glenn Beck’s new online network.
Mr. Beck and Mr. Cooper have almost nothing in common, except perhaps fame and silvery hair. But each is exploring new terrain. Mr. Beck has retreated to the Internet, where accountability to the mainstream media is low. Mr. Cooper has taken on daytime television, where it’s always open season.
Stanley writes that Cooper — his mother Gloria Vanderbilt (above) is his guest for the hour today — is “like another silver-haired talk show host of yore, Phil Donahue: friendly, earnest but willing to be playful.”
The one thing he hasn’t done yet — and the lacuna grows more obvious and awkward with each show — is talk about his love life. It’s hard to see how he can continue to leave that out selectively and preserve one particular zone of privacy while building a confessional talk show wrapped around his good looks, high spirits and glamorous adventures.