Anderson Cooper in Daytime Talk Show DealBy BRIAN STELTER for the New York Times
Anderson Cooper.The CNN anchor Anderson Cooper will add a second show to his daily duties, a light-hearted daytime talk show, next year.
The syndication arm of Warner Bros. said Thursday that it had signed a deal with Mr. Cooper to host a daytime show starting in the fall of 2011. The untitled show will be topical, covering “social issues, trends and events, pop culture and celebrity, human interest stories and populist news,” the company said in a news release.
Mr. Cooper is also renewing his contract with CNN, where he hosts the channel’s signature newscast, “Anderson Cooper 360,” weeknights at 10 p.m. His existing contract was believed to be up in 2011. “I remain as committed as ever to my program on CNN, & will be with CNN for years to come,” Mr. Cooper said in a statement.
Warner Bros. and CNN are sister units of Time Warner.
Mr. Cooper’s talks with Warner Bros. were first reported by The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday night.
Warner Bros. will be shopping Mr. Cooper’s program to prospective stations in the weeks ahead. Stations are busy rebuilding their daytime schedules in light of Oprah Winfrey’s plan to end “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in September 2011, which leaves a major hole in the schedules of her partner stations. Most of those stations are replacing Ms. Winfrey’s show with “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Dr. Oz” or a local newscast. In many cases, that means the shows are shifting to new time slots, creating vacant spaces that Warner Bros. hopes to fill with Mr. Cooper’s program.
In a news release, Ken Werner, the president of Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, said that the fall of 2011 “begins a transition period when long established franchises are leaving the air and making way for a new generation of shows.”
“Anderson Cooper is one of the most distinctive voices of the next generation of television,” Mr. Werner continued. “His popularity and skills uniquely position him to be the next big syndication franchise.”
Mr. Cooper, 43, is best known as a silver-haired newsman who travels the world for CNN, most recently distinguishing himself by spending weeks in Haiti after the earthquake there and in Louisiana during the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But he has long held an interest in the softer side of television, too, regularly visiting “Live with Regis and Kelly” and other daytime shows.
Before joining CNN in 2001, Mr. Cooper hosted a reality show for ABC called “The Mole” and co-hosted the overnight “World News Now” for that network.
A daytime talk show could enhance the exposure of Mr. Cooper, whose 10 p.m. program trails in the ratings behind the bigger cable news channels Fox News and MSNBC. But it could also dilute Mr. Cooper’s personal brand and tarnish his news credentials in the minds of viewers.
Once the daytime program starts, it seems unlikely that Mr. Cooper will be able to rush to the scenes of breaking news, although Warner Bros. did say he would sometimes “take the audience along with him right into the eye of the storm, as he goes beyond the headlines and into the lives of those affected.”
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It looks as though AC knows how to play "hardball" for CNN to keep him happy.
ReplyDeleteWarner Bros. and CNN are sister units of Time Warner. If his contract is up at the end of '011, he negotiated himself into a "talk show deal," giving it a win-win situation, supossedly.
He gets more $$, and CNN gets to well keep him, for the time being.
Stay-tuned.
CNN can't afford to let him go right now, but really what kind of talk show host could and would he make? The grave yards are filled with failed talkshow hosts, literally.
Good for Anderson. He deserves it.
ReplyDelete360 meeds work on the content of
the show, tonight Anderson did a
segment on a Sarah Palin tweet on
Alan Grayson. Sorry 360 but this falls
heavily into the not news category.
if 360 does stuff like that, it will get
beaten badly by MSNBC. Who knew
that Sarah Palin has editorial control
of 360.
I think Anderson covered his bases with this deal.
ReplyDeleteAC may not be so self assured, in reference to whether his actual "hosting" will fly. So as a back up, and he may well need it, he can always go back to CNN, and save face.
CNN is his "safety net" just in case of failure. Smart thinking.
For those who think Anderson doesn't need the money, think again. And also think WallStreet.
ReplyDeleteThe more you have, the more you need, the more you want, and that's called "greed."
Smart move on Time Warner, CNN & Anderson
ReplyDeleteCoopers part. You have got to go where the
potential viewers are and that means daytime
television. Anderson Cooper is a recognizable
name and local stations would like that rather
than someone that people are not to familiar
with and won't watch right away. This is one of
the things that is the future of news. Daytime
news shows are about to become one of the
next big things and next generation of news
in various forms. There is no longer simple
formulas for a rapidly changing media
landscape.I like what AC said his intentions
are with the new show. The mission he
laid out in detail is right on target and
needs to be what CNN needs to do. We
need regular people back on the news
who are not criminals and dong something.
crazy or just plain wrong. There is nothing
wrong with finding people out there doing
things and it can be anything. Everyone is
not angry and each day there is good news
that is ignored by CNN.If it helps CNN
reach millions of women and younger
viewers that is a good thing. Warner Bros
already is deeply involved with some of
the shows on networks or syndication.
It is a hugely lucrative moneymaker.
I am wondering how many reporters at
CNN will be appearing on the daytime
version of 360.
What is up with the oversized keeping them
ReplyDeletehonest bug on 360. CNN please reduce the
size of your graphics. I would like to see all
of the words and video and you are obstructing
my view. Same thing goes for the 100 inch
studio monitor.I am not currently in Best Buy
while watching CNN. I am not all over the store
so I need to be able to just look at the television.
What is the purpose of HD if CNN keeps reducimg
the size of video in favor of annoying graphics.
Gosh ad banners are not that annoying.I could
see if CNN did banner advertising on shows
in place of the crawl, but please can we get
to see it all. I won't forget I am watching CNN
or what show I am watching. A simple style
of graphics is needed. Thanks.
@8:16 am: The only people I know who watch daytime TV are retired or unemployed.
ReplyDeleteNow part of AC's demos are those who are retired, this is true and there are some stay at home moms, who think he's "hot" but they'd rather watch Ellen or the View and his aim, according to the press release is women.
CNN is attached to this Warner deal because of Cooper's negative ratings.
Yes, they ALL want to take photos with him, but will they watch, that's the question.
Ladies...If given the choice between Marie Osmond or Anderson Cooper, for a talk show, and SHE was supposed to have one, don't know what happened with that, which person would a "daytime" viewer go for? Just asking.
ReplyDeleteI know I'd watch neither, especially if they were up against Judge Judy, who is a powerhouse and rightfully so, but she has a specialty that she made good on and didn't try to do fifty things at once.