Take that Brian…
Tonight on 360 there was a bit of hay made of Michael Douglas doing the voice intro to NBC Nightly News as they had their stage manager standing in front of a microphone next to Cooper’s desk doing a voice over as they came out of break. Anderson Cooper blogged about it Tuesday…
Damn that NBC Nightly News. OK, here goes. I hadn’t wanted to say anything about this until we’d reached a decision, and had a signed contract, but now that NBC News has announced that Michael Douglas will be doing the voiceover introduction to their nightly newscast, our hand has been forced.
For about six months now we’ve been working on having someone with a very distinctive voice introduce 360 every night. It all started for us when CBS got Walter Cronkite to introduce their broadcast. We formed an exploratory committee which met once a week in a backroom at Michael’s restaurant in New York. Week after week, cobb salad after cobb salad, we argued over whose voice to use. Sometimes the discussions got very heated, and eventually we were asked not to return to Michael’s. I actually think some NBC News executives may have overheard our discussions there one afternoon and it might have given them the idea to use Michael Douglas. (We never actually talked about using him, but Catherine Zeta-Jones was high on our list for a long time.) Water under the bridge.
Wow. That’s almost funny.
Comment by Don — December 19, 2007 @ 2:17 am
It WAS funny. It’s good to see that AC360’s bringing back some of the humorous elements it had back when it started in 2003.
Comment by Marty — December 19, 2007 @ 3:19 am
Hopefully that didn’t segue into the story about the terrible train accident in Pakistan today or something like that.
I don’t mind the light banter that Cooper has with Erica Hill, but this isn’t a variety show…even if the point was to take a jab at a competing network.
Comment by FishOil — December 19, 2007 @ 3:50 am
It was funny and I agree Marty it’s been nice to see a bit of humor splashed here and there during the program. The “glee club” performance was hilarious the other night.They strike a good balance between snippets of humor when appropropriate and still delivering the serious news of the day in a respectful manner.
Comment by myview — December 19, 2007 @ 8:11 am
It’s a joke and the funniest comments on the blog are from the people who don’t get that it’s a joke but take it seriously.
The glee club was funny but did you notice him say something like “were not supposed to do this but were going to anyway”? Hope they didn’t get in trouble.
The “light banter” with Erica (I’m the only person who thinks I’m funny) Hill is cringe-worthy and Anderson’s smile is phony (when skin crinkles around the eyes it’s a real smile) but he’s more relaxed and the banter is less forced with Gary Tuchman or even Randy Kaye.
Comment by Anonymous — December 19, 2007 @ 10:04 am
God that stage manager sounded much better than NBC’s Douglas.
Comment by Aaron — December 19, 2007 @ 10:51 am
It’s good that Anderson’s trying to bring in some fun in his program and connecting again with his viewers but, he needs to stop making fun of “small people”
Comment by keira — December 19, 2007 @ 1:14 pm
I don’t understand the Douglas choice. The intro doesn’t exactly lend an authoratitve air. There isn’t enough “weight” in Douglas’s voice.
Comment by DanOregon — December 19, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
Anderson needs to get over himself! He made sherry of the view look dumb last week, he need to realize that not everybody, especially the minorities was born with a “silver spoon” Sherry has worked hard to get to where she is and the last thing she need is some rich white boy to pull her down!That was very offending to not only Sherry, but to every Black person who is struglling and trying to make it.I’m sure if Sherry’s mother was a railroad heiress she would have a Yale degree too.
Comment by lona — December 19, 2007 @ 11:05 pm
“He made sherry of the view look dumb last week.”
Are you kidding me? She thought Christ predated the Romans and wasn’t sure the world was round. She doesn’t need any help looking dumb.
Comment by Arthur — December 20, 2007 @ 1:19 am
Sherry has worked hard to get to where she is and the last thing she need is some rich white boy to pull her down!That was very offending to not only Sherry, but to every Black person who is struglling and trying to make it
Sherry needs to grow a brain and learn to use it before she opens her mouth and she needs to work HARDER so that she doesn’t always appear as a dim-bulb. Anderson Cooper isn’t the first person to point out some of the more idiotic remarks this woman has made since she joined The View. I can guarantee that there are SOME black folks out there who find her to be a complete embarrassment.
They strike a good balance between snippets of humor when appropropriate and still delivering the serious news of the day in a respectful manner.
Absolutely, myview. This is what’s been missing on the show for quite a while now and I’m relieved to see it back. And I have to agree with one of the commenters here that Anderson’s interaction with Gary Tuchman and Randi Kaye are really good–I don’t have anything against Erica, but I don’t find her particularly interesting or funny and I enjoyed AC much more with Gary and Randi, but Erica appears to be the viewer’s choice.
Comment by Marty — December 20, 2007 @ 5:52 am
And Lona still doesn’t know how to spell. We’ll overlook the obvious integration of complete, proper sentences.
Not your rich, Ivy League girl,
Annz
Comment by ANNZ — December 20, 2007 @ 9:57 am
Anderson needs to get over himself, period. He needs to work on some, he’s been so much into himself and his own opinions recently especially on his program. The way some of us respect him, he didn’t need to go after sherri like that.
Comment by keira — December 20, 2007 @ 11:59 am
The one thing you can say for certain about Anderson, is that he rarely, if ever, gives opinions on issues that matter, like politics, he stays neutral and doesn’t come down on any particular side. When it comes to foolishness like Sherri Shepard, he may as well go for broke.
Comment by Marty — December 21, 2007 @ 4:33 am