Katie Couric

There have been more than 25 presidential debates already this political season, hosted by FOX, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, and Univision. But to date, CBS News has yet to sponsor a single showdown.

Last night, however, viewers who would like to see Katie Couric questioning the leading presidential candidates on a big stage, got the next best thing: Katie Couric questioning Hillary Clinton on 60 Minutes.

What did Ms. Couric ask?

Over the course of a lengthy back-and-forth, among other questions, Ms. Couric asked if Ms. Clinton popped vitamins, whether she liked Barack Obama, if she felt responsible for a deficit "caused largely by a war" she had authorized, what she was like in high school, and did her teenage classmates really call her Miss Frigidaire?

After the jump: the transcript of the interchange, courtesy of CBS:  read more »

 

With all her years of experience in front of the camera, one would think Katie Couric might stash the snark when preparing to go live. Not so.

In this clip, after complaining about her crappy microphone, Ms. Couric, 51, goes on to joke that “Giuliani’s dead,” pretending to decapitate herself. After a few more moments of idle chitchat, the CBS Evening News anchor compares John McCain’s wife, Cindy, to a Husky (as in the breed of dog). “Look at those eyes, she’s freakin’ me out a little,” she wisecracks of the politico’s spouse.

Jibes aside, Ms. Couric comes off as kind of hysterical—the life of the party, in fact. Even still, after she jokes about suffering a heart attack, the set crew cheers excitedly off-camera.

More bad news for Katie Couric and CBS: Evening News lost 1.1 million viewers over the last 12 months, according to ratings numbers for the third week of December reported by the New York Post.

By contrast, Brian Williams of NBC lost just 164,000 viewers, and ABC's Charlie Gibson gained 38,000 over the same period.

Somewhere, Dan Rather is smiling.

Wanna see a clip of Katie Couric making fun of Dan Rather for trying to decide whether to wear his coat open or closed? Ok, so did we.  read more »

The Daily News has some nuggets from Ed Klein's latest Unauthorized Biography. He continues to stalk powerful women in this portrait of Katie Couric, which hits bookstores a week from today.

The News writes:

The most shocking tale in author Edward Klein's unauthorized biography, "Katie: The Real Story," is that Couric's marriage to Jay Monahan was on the rocks long before he died of cancer in 1998.  read more »

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Hey, Katie, Go Ask A-Rod: Saving a flailing franchise all by yourself is hard.  read more »

Under trolling clouds, some 1,200 ladies sashayed through Vanderbilt Gate on Wed., May 2 to the 25th annual “Hat Luncheon.” Hosted by the Women’s Committee of the Central Park Conservancy, the list of upper-class attendees included Grace Hightower DeNiro, Malaak Compton-Rock, Amy Fine Collins, Blaine Trump, Muffie Potter Aston, and Harper’s Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey.  read more »

Katie Couric, the anchor of the CBS Evening News, was in Georgia on Friday, Jan.  read more »

I'm surprised that everyone covering Corey Lidle's death has avoided the psychological question: Was depression or suicidal feeling a factor in the crash?

Let's go to the videotape: in his last appearance in the public eye, just four days before his death, Saturday October 7, Corey Lidle came into the Yankees' most important game of the season in the third inning. The Yankees were losing the game, 4-0, and Lidle then closed the door in the third and fourth, but couldn't get an out in the 5th; he gave up three runs. When he was lifted, the Yankees were down 7-0. Yes, Jaret Wright lost the game; but Lidle put it out of reach. The Yankees departed the postseason, 8-3.

I'm blanking on his name, but at least one MLB pitcher who screwed up committed suicide in the off-season. Athletes in other sports have, too.

I don't mind Katie Couric oozing a widow's sympathy last night when she asked her reporter, "And what about his family?" But I'd like to hear some other questions: How did Corey Lidle respond to his dramatic failure on Saturday? Did he hold himself responsible for the Yankees' demise? How fit was he to get in behind the controls?

Pace University's three-day "Aftershock" conference ("Rethinking the Future Since Sept. 11") will have closed its curtains by the weekend.

Katie Couric weighs in tonight with an assessment of national security while Ted Koppel will dig in Sunday.

The two photo exhibits downtown will stick around for a while, but if you want to see a set of memorial quilts, you better get there Friday.

It's obvious why presenters would want to start early, but we have to wonder, how long can Americans remain in this commemorative state?

Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" (starring Nicolas Cage, above) premiered three weeks ago on 2,957 screens. It has already closed on 55 of them.  read more »

-Matthew Schuerman

After a tear-jerking send-off on Wednesday, Katie Couric is ready to move on: to the Hamptons!

The future CBS News anchor just bought a $6.3 million home in East Hampton, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It seems like a nice way to spend the summer, before getting back behind the anchor desk. Measuring over 7,000 square feet, the two-story home includes seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, and a pool.

One of her new neighbors is beleaguered Knicks coach Larry Brown.  read more »

UPDATE:We now have a photo after the jump! - Michael Calderone

The New York Post reports today that Maggie Gyllenhaal, and her fiancee Peter Sarsgaard have been checking out a $2.7 million Tribeca condo. At this time, the contract has not been signed. But considering that the attractive couple just announced they were getting married earlier this month, and that Ms. Gyllenhaal is pregant, they could be ready to settle down in a sleek, 2,300-square-foot apartment.

Also in The Post: Katie Couric is reportedly buying an $8 million Southampton home, and there's a price on those units that Harry Macklowe is purchasing at The Plaza.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

I thought Kaavya Visnawathan was tough on the Today Show this morning. Katie Couric played the strict mother; she wanted her to break down like a good 19-year-old and admit she had copied straight from Megan McCafferty. When Visnawathan didn't crack and said the dog ate my homework—yes she had read Megan's books many times over, but any resemblances are strictly coincidental—Couric said, "Why did you come on the show?" Visnawathan insisted it was to explain herself. Couric said, "Some would say you didn't explain anything."

The anchor did a good, sophisticated job. While the "writer"'s tough performance (and the media's fawning backstory to the comedown) only upped the ante. When Visnawathan said she wanted to talk to McCafferty to apologize—for what, unconsciously unintentionally lifting?—she seemed to be jumping about 10 steps ahead in the James Frey playbook. It was bogus and unearned, and will only sharpen the swords of envy.

Compare Visnawathan's heartfelt debt to McCafferty to this from the Crimson

But when The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. asked Viswanathan about the inspiration for her book last week--before the similar passages were reported--she responded, "Nothing I read gave me the inspiration."

• If you were Katie Couric, and had the entire summer off before taking over the CBS Evening News, wouldn't you spend it in the Hamptons? Indeed, spokesperson Matthew Hiltzik confirms that "she is looking." (New York Post)
• Ever since David Koch purchased an apartment at 740 Park two years ago, Upper East Side brokers have been speculating about when his lavish spread at 1040 Fifth Avenue would come on the market. Well, now it is. And having being formerly owned by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, it exudes "provenance." These days, such provenance runs about $32 million. (New York Times)
• We didn't think that Basic Instinct 2 was exactly raking it in at the box office. Nethertheless, Sharon Stone is now buying a $10 million Beverly Hills mansion. The seller, a young hedge funder, just bought Brad and Jen's old digs for $22.25 million. (Forbes)

- Michael Calderone

Now that Katie Couric—America’s High Priestess of Perky—will take over the vaunted  read more »

Tasini Waits for No Man

To the Editor:  read more »

Names appearing in the center section of Romenesko for April 6, as of 12:30 p.m., from bottom to top:

Couric, Goodman, Pickford, Couric, Brook Barnes, Katie Couric, Couric, Couric, Couric, Couric, Stanley, Walter [Cronkite], Couric, Chung, [Katie] Couric, Bill Carter, Couric, Couric, Vargas, Williams, Couric, Rooney, Schieffer, Couric, Matea Gold, Murphy, Bob, Bob Schieffer, Katie Couric, Jim Murphy, Schieffer, Couric, Couric, Schieffer, Cronkite, Katie, King, Schieffer, Walter Cronkite, Larry King, Larry King, Cronkite, Roger Cohen, David Barstow, Moore, Roger Moore, Libby, [Vice President Dick] Cheney, Murry Waas, President Bush, Judith Miller, Scooter Libby, Bush, Libby, Deborah Caulfield Rybak, Couric, Brian Montopoli, Couric.

What is gravitas? And why does it kick in at nightfall?    read more »

In a meeting with reporters in Los Angeles last January, CBS president Leslie Moonves made some sugg  read more »

"When you're the up-and-comer, when you're No.  read more »

Sometimes I amuse myself by imagining that hell is real, with lava, Satan and Katie Couric screaming  read more »

Did she or didn't she?  read more »

Wednesday, Aug. 15Katie-mania!  read more »

To save a few bucks, NBC wants its staff to skimp on the Christmas spirit.  read more »

Upper East Side SASSA UP $6.1 MILLION, PERELMAN DOWN $2.1 MILLION. DRAT!  read more »