CBS TRIES "DESPERATE ANCHORBABES" APPROACH TO AID COURIC NEW YORK. With its average audience slipping further behind network rivals, CBS Evening News today announced that it will shift to a "Desperate Anchorbabes" format, bringing Connie Chung and Barbara Walters, two failed anchorwomen from the past, out of retirement to aid former Today Show host Katie Couric.  "Another mudslide in South America!"
"We remain surprised that Katie's trademark upbeat approach, which worked so well with typical Today stories such as 'Ten Spooky Halloween Decorating Ideas!', is somewhat less successful for a hard news lead like 'Suicide Bomber Kills 18 in Tel Aviv Nightclub!'," said CBS News President Sean McManus.  Williams: "He seems--so lifelike!"
CBS thought it had a winner on its hands last week with an exclusive interview with former "Family Ties" star Michael J. Fox, but the network instead fell to 7.3 million viewers, 1.1 million behind ABC's second-place "World News". NBC's "Nightly News", hosted by incredibly life-like anchor Brian Williams, led the way with 8.9 million viewers.  Walters: "Ooo-those wascally Wepublicans!"
Barbara Walters overcame the so-called "Elmer Fudd" speech impediment to become the first woman co-anchor in American television history in 1976. Her tenure ended when she stumbled over a series of words containing the letter "r" in 1978, saying "Wonald Weagan, Wepublican presidential fwont-wunner, wealizes he won't win his party's nomination without wallying the wight-wing."  Chung: "I'm not Mrs. Maury Povich--he's Mr. Connie Chung."
Chung became the second woman and the first Asian to co-anchor a major network?s national news broadcast in 1993, but was demoted in April, 1995 when she asked a fireman at the scene of the Oklahoma City bombing to hold her compact mirror while she applied mascara, a request that some viewers found insensitive. CBS News' McManus believes the approach should attract highly-sought after female viewers, since as he put it, "Chicks tend to travel in groups--Sex in the City, Desperate Housewives, Charlie's Angels. You'll never see a woman walk into a bar alone like a guy would, but if you do, could you get her number for me?"
Copyright 2006, Con Chapman
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