Friday, March 29, 2024

Scott Pelley is the New Cronkite/Couric/Rather

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It’s official: Scott Pelley is the new anchor of The CBS Evening News. He joins an elite group that includes Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and Katie Couric. Will Pelley bring a significant change in ratings or attitude to the show? Can he beat Brian Williams or Diane Sawyer? And does it matter any more? I think ‘no’ is the answer to all those questions, but we’ll see. Maybe Pelley will surprise us. My choice would have been Harry Smith, but no one asked. It looks like Pelley will just pick up where Couric leaves off, on Monday June 6th. Is that enough time to build a whole new set and get new theme music? Resurrect Eric Sevareid to do the voice over introduction? Probably not. But Pelley’s assumption the anchor chair should make the old timers at CBS News happy: he’s one of them, and he’s a guy. These were the things they didn’t like about Katie Couric. So even if Pelley never raises the ratings, he’ll be a comfortable, supported fit in house. PS When bin Laden was killed on Sunday, Russ Mitchell did a great job anchoring the whole episode.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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