Tuesday, July 24, 2007


Buh-Bye, Paula Zahn

We knew she was going. Here are a couple of details:

A day after CNN announced that it was hiring Campbell Brown to replace one of its prime-time hosts, presumably Paula Zahn, Ms. Zahn confirmed today that she was leaving the cable channel, effective Aug. 2.

The unraveling of “Paula Zahn Now,” which made its debut at 8 p.m. in spring 2003, was ultimately a function of ratings. [...]

"...what has become clear when you look at the landscape, particularly in the 8 o’clock hour, it seems pretty obvious the audience is drawn to opinion-driven shows. That is not what I do.”
It's not? I could have sworn I picked up on an opinion here and there.

For all the rumors in recent months of Ms. Zahn’s impending departure, the transition to Ms. Brown will not necessarily be an orderly one. Ms. Brown signed an exit agreement with NBC which keeps her off the air until Nov. 1, meaning CNN will have no regular host in its 8 p.m. timeslot for three months. (She is also expecting her first child in late December, and planning to take at least a few weeks maternity leave then.)

Once she makes her debut, Ms. Brown, like Ms. Zahn before her, will be asked to marshal all her experience on network news to try not only to surpass Mr. Olbermann but somehow to become competitive with Mr. O’Reilly.

Hmmm, which of the following has more appeal: Keith's Special Comments....Mrs. Dan Senor. Keith....Mrs. Dan...Keith...Mrs...... Keith...Keith...KEITH!!

Whew, sorry. My hair must look a mess. That was highly unprofessional. Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

12 Comments:

At 5:29 PM, Blogger GottaLaff said...

I've gotta stop doing that.

 
At 5:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You've got to....but CAN you????

 
At 6:27 PM, Blogger Ashen Shard said...

heh, I can almost guarantee this will fail if they make Glenn Beck one of the irregular hosts of the 8 pm spot. If they wanted someone who would get ratings, they should have plopped Jack Cafferty there. Or maybe even pull Michael Ware out of Baghdad and give him the anchor job. Would also help not having 3 freaking hours of the situation room ... talk about too much Wolf.

 
At 6:45 PM, Blogger GottaLaff said...

Hehe, Gimme, you know me too well.

And Ashen, um yeah, you'd think CNN would try to INcrease ratings. But if this makes Keith look even better, I'm all for CNN maintaining their bad judgment quotient.

 
At 6:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, Laffie, you, me and the Padster need to work on our public displays of Keithgasm.

I think it'll be interesting to see what happens. I've always found Campbell somewhat low-key. I can't quite imagine what format she would have that would take anything away from Keith (or god forbid O'Really).

 
At 6:59 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Paula Zahn had a suspicion she was being replaced when her parking space was turned into a dump truck pickup...
When she received a memo from the head of CNN addressed to
"Occupant"...
And when her key to the executive ladies room blew up in her purse.

The viewers had a hunch she was going and going fast. Each night she was reading the news in a track suit and running shoes...
And before each commercial, when she said, "I'll be right back," she crossed herself.

 
At 7:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hah!!!

 
At 8:59 PM, Blogger Mary Ellen said...

Ugh....I hope she's not coming back here, I live in the town where she grew up. We have a whole friggin' town of Paula Zahn's around here.

 
At 9:03 PM, Blogger GottaLaff said...

Oooo, ME.

Just be glad you're not in a town of Lohans. Now that would be some serious trouble.

 
At 12:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

So, Zahn gets fired over bad ratings, but Glenn Beck and his horrble ratings stay. Meanwhile Dan "Baghdad Bob" Senor's wife get's Zahn's time slot.
Something tells me Campbell Senor is going to do worse than Zahn.

 
At 11:03 AM, Blogger Kirsten said...

I don't get Keith up here ( damn Canadian cable premium channels cost...) So while Palua was on, I went to my computer and tried to get as much Keith as I can. Seeing as CNN is the only U.S. news channel I can get for a low price, I spend way too much time watching it for the " American" P.O.V. Thank God for the BBC and the CBC I get to make me smarter.
Campbell Brown/ Senor will be worse. And Glenn Beck should be replaced with three mour hours of the Showbiz Tonight guys because I'm not getting enough about Paris, Britney, and Lindsay...

 
At 11:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

CNN might as well change their name to Fox News 2. Wonder if her husband, will now switch from appearing on Fox News to showing up on CNN?

 

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