Here's Katie Couric !

At 5:30 pm, I admit that I did not want to miss Katie Couric's debut at the CBS Evening News. After all, she is the only woman to head an evening news program on a US television network replacing Bob Schieffer who thankfully replaced Dan Rather. I find her debut significant and inspiring - worthy of celebrating in the business of broadcasting and for women as well.



The set look snappy, she glided through the stories, introduced correspondent Lara Logan (I absolutely love her voice!) who talked about the Taliban's re-emergence in Afghanistan. I'm looking forward to the day when Lara Logan reports how Muslim women will be set free from the oppression suffered under that cultural mindset.

Speaking of being free, Katie Couric introduced a new segment, "freeSpeech" explaining, "We're trying a few new things. Expressing your opinion is very American, one of the privileges of living in this country."

With Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" fresh on my mind from the weekend, I enjoyed his commentary regarding the "smackdown hype" of the media on "freeSpeech". Not too often one sees the Hulkster used as a prop on national news! When Rush Limbaugh guests on the segment Thursday, maybe he'll explain "Whatcha gonna do brother, when HULKAMANIA DESTROYS YOU?!" with a tie in to the war on terror.

I watched the show from a production standpoint - Katie ran through the news; there wasn't the smugness that I get from Brian Williams at NBC or the tiredness from Charles Gibson at ABC, though they are both good. And with all the yelling and arrogance from CNN, FOX and MSNBC at that hour, it was a breath of fresh air for me. I thought it was good for Katie to get out in front of the set, which got rid of the "talking head" persona. I think she will connect with the audience much better just like speakers do when they step out in front of the podium / wall to speak to their audience.

I also liked the mix of news (althought it was a SLOW news day), the segments, interviews, and especially the feel good story at the end about the Memory project. To me, it wipes away the crap news that somebody, somewhere including me and you can make a difference by caring.



Katie has a blog: COURIC & Co., so that says she's no better than us or is it, we're no better than her... As the Hulkster would say, "Don't put on the coffee, we're not finished yet!"