360 to 10 pm…Blitzer gets additional hour at 7pm…Brown leaving CNN
CNN announced that starting Monday Anderson Cooper 360 will air at 10pm with a two hour show. In addition The Situation Room will expand into primetime at the 7-8pm hour. Aaron Brown will be leaving CNN. TVNewser has the internal email on Brown.
Quoting CNN’s official release…
Anderson Cooper will take the helm of a live news program from 10 p.m. to midnight (ET) on CNN beginning next week. Cooper, who has reported from the scene of such major news events as Hurricane Katrina, the famine in Niger, the Terry Schiavo case, the war in Iraq, the tsunami in South Asia and the 2004 elections, will be topping off CNN’s prime-time schedule with two hours dedicated to exploring in-depth the most important and relevant news of the day. Anderson Cooper 360º, which debuted on Sept. 8, 2003, will air from its new timeslot beginning Monday, Nov. 7.
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer will now air from 7 to 8 p.m., in addition to a two-hour afternoon block from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The Situation Room has proven to be a breakout show with its expert contributors and correspondents and its innovative style of producing live news coverage. With the addition of the 7 p.m hour replacing Anderson Cooper 360º at 7 p.m., The Situation Room will now receive greater prominence in the CNN lineup. In addition, Live From, anchored by Kyra Phillips, will extend one hour and will now air from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
WOW…CNN has just lost perhaps one of THE most important, well-respected members of their staff today. I really don’t think this “oversaturation” of their on-air personalities (Wolf and Aaron) and programming (TSR) is going to help ONE bit. Why can’t CNN go outside the box and try something NEW rather than expanding upon existing programs?
And I guess there goes the NewsNight banner…
Comment by Anonymous — November 2, 2005 @ 4:05 pm
They went out and got Paula Zahn from FNC. What a “catch” that was!
Finally! Aaron Brown is gone from CNN!! This is the first move Klein has made that makes sense! Whether you like AC360 or not, he has a following. And he isn’t 50 or 60 by the time he made it to prime time. Which is what a network with terrible ratings should do. Shoot for the DEMO. Let AB go do some more infomercials.
Comment by Terance — November 2, 2005 @ 4:12 pm
i have been a long time tv news watcher and i cant for the life of me understand what is suppose to be “hot” about anderson cooper. when he first came to cnn he was subbing for connie chung one nite he was actually making very ugly comments concerning female anchors from other networks. saying they looked like dogs or something - very bad taste. first impressions - i never forgot and cant stand to watch him. cnn has so little to offer anymore. i switched to fox in the spring - I LOVE IT. all cnners had better watch their jobs. here today gone tomorrow.
Comment by liz — November 2, 2005 @ 4:39 pm
Where in the world can he go now? He certainly doesn’t fit the mold of MSNBC or Fox. Guess he will have to write a book.
Comment by Sophia — November 2, 2005 @ 4:55 pm
Cooper in the pooper for Jon Klein
Comment by Lurker — November 2, 2005 @ 5:41 pm
This is the worst, worst thing Klein has done. I always watched Aaron Brown. When Anderson joined him it became absolutely terrible with the horrible flashy graphics and ZERO chemistry. Brown is a true, true professional who made his way up through local TV and the networks. Cooper by chance got a job at ABC overnight, then anchored weekends at CNN (like Tony Harris does, and he won’t be anchoring primetime soon), and now is their lead primetime anchor??? CNN lost me as a viewer after 10pm.
Comment by bb — November 2, 2005 @ 5:44 pm
Hmmm….word is ABC will announce a new WNT anchor in the coming weeks. Maybe AB is in the running for that seat. Now that would be an interesting move.
Comment by Anonymous — November 2, 2005 @ 5:46 pm
I doubt ABC will ask AB to fill their vacant seat, they need someone with mainstream appeal and Aaron is a niche audience anchor.
But with that said, Aaron had a huge following of people who liked his slow, thoughtful style….me being one of them. He was the only reason I stayed with CNN, now I guess I’m off to MSNBC.
Aaron would fit in well with the people at PBS, and I would certainly tune in if he does move there.
Comment by reader — November 2, 2005 @ 6:14 pm
I still remember watching AB on ABC’s overnight newscast in the 90’s. He was funny and sharp. I didn’t catch his CNN show much because Greta and Scarbourgh have more interesting programs in that time slot. I agree PBS might be a good fit for him now.
Comment by scott — November 2, 2005 @ 6:32 pm
viewers or not, people like aaron brown are essential to tv journalism. i agree that he would be a nice fit at pbs; however, cnn really ought to bring some pbs to cnn and find ways to make smart journalism jive with popular journalism. i think you would be surprised to see how many people would watch a pbs-style program if they were exposed to it.
Comment by slm — November 2, 2005 @ 6:35 pm
bad move. people will tire of cooper.
Comment by cas — November 2, 2005 @ 6:50 pm
There went the best anchor in all of cable news, what a shame. I will forever miss Morning Papers and everything else that show offered.
Comment by AnonymousHere — November 2, 2005 @ 6:53 pm
FTV Live has ratings information on Anderson Cooper. Looks like the reporters may like him, but the all important TV viewers don’t. Seems that Cooper has averaged only 713,000 viewers this year, and there’s something else about his inability to break one million viewers. It’s an interesting read.
Comment by Ms. Anonymous — November 2, 2005 @ 7:17 pm
I am 33 years old and I became a huge fan of NewsNight with Aaron Brown since his CNN debut on 9/11/01. I tuned in to this program every night just to see him and quirky behavior. I became hooked with the show and I would hurry home from my job so I can watch him. Since May 2003, I taped the program including breaking news using my VCR. I would watch them during my leisure and keep the best ones as archives.
On Wednesday, November 2, I saw the Associated Press headline stated “CNN’s Aaron Brown Leaving the Network.” I felt shock and disbelief. I printed articles from newspaper and media websites across the US including Minneapolis and Seattle via Google. I felt like a boyfriend abruptly breaks up with his girlfriend after four years.
I hope Aaron finds another anchor job so I can tape his new news program.
Comment by Lorena Luth — November 18, 2005 @ 3:38 pm