Memo To Moonves: Call Anderson Cooper

Tom Shales: “if I were Leslie Moonves, I would right now be trying to entice [Anderson] Cooper over to CBS to anchor the remodeled CBS Evening News, if such a thing ever does actually appear on the air.”

Why?: “Ironically or not, Cooper’s status as a newsman-with-a-heart makes him television kin to Dan Rather…Beyond that, Cooper has a newness to him, a wry touch of attitude that he very effectively modulates on the air. It is something that, combined with his visual appeal, could help bring young viewers to news-thus bucking or perhaps even reversing a long and dismaying trend in the other direction. Cooper, uh, still, um, has, uh, trouble ad-libbing, but when reading, when talking into the camera and making viewer contact, he is all poise and polish without being slick. He’s no Stepford Anchor, and he deserves a bigger and better chance than CNN can give him.”