Bob Schieffer (maybe) pulls out the claws against Katie Couric

Bob's editorial piece on Face The Nation congratulating Scott Pelley on his new gig at the CBS Evening News anchor desk definitely had a few lines that could be construed as a little catty toward Katie. He said,

"Here's the part I like. Scott was telling somebody the other day that... he has never had an anchor job so he was a little nervous about taking this one. Well, I think that makes him more qualified. Too many people in TV these days get their suntans from the studio lights. Not Scott."

"So I won't be worrying about Scott handling an anchor job. I won't be worrying at all. It's just nice to see someone get the job who deserves it."

 

I suspect you're reading way too much into this.

 

Maybe, but Bob was the interim CBS Evening News anchor before Katie started and the ratings were actually up with him in the chair. CBS would have been better off leaving him in the anchor chair and finding something else for Couric to do. I just wonder if he harbored any resentment toward the network over it.

 

The ratings were better with Schieffer, and they would have been better off with him.

Having said that, he's always been pretty supportive of Couric publicly, and I don't see him changing that now. Dude's been around a long time -- I don't see any reason to assume this is a shot at the most recent person to sit in the chair.

 

When Schieffer was filling the chair on an interim basis, and everyone knew Couric was on her way in, I read a couple of stories that said, or at least suggested, that he wasn't interested in the job full-time, though he was more than happy to keep the chair warm if the network wanted him to. So, no, I don't think he has any resentment.

And I think the comments were simply a matter of praising Pulley, not taking a shot at anyone else.

 

Wasn't John Roberts supposed to get that gig before Katie was announced? I thought he was being groomed and when that got yanked by Ms. Morning Personality, he bolted for CNN.

 

Before the Rather Texas Guard thing happened it was pretty well known that he was nearing retirement (he was already older than Cronkite when he stepped down). Pelley and Roberts were the two front-runners, but after the Texas Guard thing - CBS felt they needed and outsider with more "pop" and brought in Couric. I never understood why CBS wasn't able to translate 60 Minutes popularity onto their daily broadcast (even with Rather) - looks like they are going to make a focused effort on that with Pelley and the new guy taking over the morning show.

 

The guy who got hosed in all of this was Richard C. Hottelet.

 

I think part of the problem is they really weren't grooming anyone. That's always been a problem at CBS. I don't think they were grooming John Roberts so much as they looked around and he was one of the only legit in-house options they had, so they went outside.

Brian Williams could announce his retirement tomorrow and NBC would have at least a half-dozen solid options in-house to replace him.

 

In fairness, NBC has cable channels where personalities can be groomed.

 

Just like Brian did. He had that "The News With Brian Williams" show on NBC's cable arm for a while before coming over to NBC and waiting for Tom to retire.

 

True, and that's an advantage... but CBS has spots where they could groom an anchor and they don't have anyone there who is likely to be a candidate for the big chair. Russ Mitchell is the weekend guy, and that's not happening. They've got Jeff Glor in the morning who is OK but young, green, and nowhere close to the main gig.

It speaks volumes that the top fill-in anchor in the evening is Harry Smith, who gets dropped back onto the morning show anytime they've completely given up hope and just need someone to sit there so the commercial breaks don't bump into each other. Harry is ratings kryptonite.. and he's number two.