CBS ratings circling the proverbial bowl of destiny

Rating fall, new hosts flop at CBS News. 

In a move that critics are calling “the journalistic equivalent of putting pineapple on pizza,” CBS News has tanked its ratings with a revamped “CBS Evening News” featuring John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. The duo replaced longtime host Norah O’Donnell earlier this year, ushering in what the network billed as a “magazine-style, less headline-driven” format. Spoiler alert: viewers are snoozing harder than a congregation during a tax code sermon.

“It’s been critically panned, ratings down week by week and from this time last year,” a source dished to the Daily Mail, probably while clutching a latte and a pink slip. The show’s executive producer, Bill Owens, is reportedly drowning under the weight of his own ambition. “Bill Owens is also overstretched and feeling the pressure with this lawsuit from Donald Trump,” the insider added, referencing a $20 billion legal smackdown over “60 Minutes” allegedly turning Kamala Harris’s election-year interview into a choppy TikTok remix.

Owens, who’s been juggling “60 Minutes” like a circus clown on a unicycle, was tapped last summer to resuscitate “CBS Evening News.” Instead, the show’s ratings have belly-flopped harder than a lead balloon. Nielsen numbers from last week show a 14% year-over-year nosedive, while advertisers are fleeing faster than hipsters from a gluten-heavy buffet. For the week of February 10th, the show saw a 24% drop in the coveted 25-54 demographic. “That demographic is very important to advertisers,” a former TV news exec told Status. “The experiment is failing.”

Meanwhile, inside sources are painting a picture of chaos that would make a Three Stooges reunion look organized. “I would say it’s a five-alarm fire,” the exec whispered dramatically. Another producer chimed in, “It’s mind boggling. They took the ‘news’ out of the ‘Evening News!’ It’s not surprising the audience is leaving in droves.” Case in point: a recent Oval Office appearance by President Trump and Elon Musk got a measly 22 seconds of airtime. “This is one of the most consequential periods for news in years,” a source groaned to Status. “And [yet] they are often minimizing the biggest story of the day to 20 seconds.”

The network’s leadership isn’t exactly inspiring confidence either. Early Owens fan Adrienne Roark has already jumped ship, and rumors swirl that CEO Wendy McMahon might be next to walk the plank. “Why did McMahon and Owens decide to try to reinvent the ‘Evening News’ in this challenging moment?” an industry insider mused. “Any excuse you give the audience to change their habit is a massive risk. The habits are so fragile in this new media landscape. So if you give them an excuse to stop watching, they will.”

Still, CBS loyalists are clinging to hope like it’s the last lifeboat on the Titanic. “We are in this for the long term and are confident in our long game,” they insisted to the Mail. “We expected this.” Sure, and we expected the moon to be made of cheese. Meanwhile, ABC and NBC’s evening news programs are quietly sipping champagne as their ratings tick upward. “It’s almost impossible to build it once you’ve lost it,” a producer warned. “So to have a drop off like that suggests that this asset… is circling the drain.”
In short, CBS News has rolled the dice on a bold new format and landed on “ratings bankruptcy.” Stay tuned—next week they might replace the anchors with sock puppets and a kazoo orchestra.

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Colbert's Trump rant a delight for homophobes

(Photo: Reuters)

CBS's not-so-funny man, Stephen Colbert, verbally attacked Donald Trump in a vicious, lowbrow rant that was cringe-worthy, even to some liberals who actually believe the office of the President should be shown a modicum of respect.

If you don't know what Colbert said on his show, among other insults, it had to do with President Trump's mouth being described as a "c**k holster" for Vladimir Putin. 

His audience of leftist snobs and homophobes laughed with glee like junior high school kids telling fart jokes.

Of course Twitter went crazy with hate tweets and the hashtag #FireColbert. Some called Colbert's rant "homophobic" and that he should be fired for saying it.

I disagree.

His jokes are lazy attempts at humor and need to be pointed out to the public. If enough people stop watching his show, maybe read a book or listen to music instead, he would be gone.

Consider one of the lines: "Sir, you attract more skinheads than free Rogaine." 

That's just stupid--skinheads shave their heads, don't need Rogaine and wouldn't want hair messing with their neo-Nazi political statement.

But his boorish audience has to laugh lest they be chastised by their peers.

Colbert's response to the anger his ranting created was: "So while I would do it again, I would change a few words that were cruder than they needed to be," a transcript that was released by CBS stated.

The whole thing started when Trump abruptly cut off an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation" host John Dickerson after he was pushed to explain in greater detail his previous allegation that former President Obama wiretapped his phone.  

Dickerson had previously asked Trump a number of questions about his first 100 days, and if he still stood by his claim that Obama was a "sick and bad guy," something he tweeted.

"I don't stand by anything," Trump answered. "I just--you can take it the way you want. I think our side's been proven very strongly. And everybody's talking about it. And frankly it should be discussed. I think that isa very big surveillance of our citizens. I think it's a very big topic. And it's a topic that should find out what the hell is going on."

When Dickerson asked him to explain it further, Trump cut him off saying, "You don't have to ask me."

"Why not?" Dickerson asked.

"Because I have my own opinions. You can have your own opinions."

"But you're the President of the United States," Dickerson said.

"Okay, it's enough. Thank you," President Trump said, ending the interview at that point.

Apparently, Stephen Colbert was caught up in the interview and was upset when Mr. Trump decided to end it. Personally, I would have liked the interview to have continued but it's inexcusable to use the verbal porn that Colbert said on television. 

It's even disrespectful to those of his viewers who actually don't want to hear that kind of talk.

But I will still defend Colbert's right to say it because you can't have it both ways: if you believe, for example, that Ann Coulter has the right to speak at Berkeley, then you need to avoid being a hypocrite and leave that to the left.

Just my opinion.


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A vote for Kasich is a "Duh" vote

"Nothing here"

John Kasich may have an "R" after his name, but he's no conservative. Ad he's not going to be our nomination, much less our next president. But like a strange groin rash, he refuses to go away.

What is this guy thinking? He is virtually the only GOP member who says he would consider Merrit Garland for the Supreme Court. And while I can see the GOP meeting to interview and pretend to consider the president's nomination of Garland, Kasich is actually willing to have him sit on the SCOTUS bench for life.

Kasich spoke on CBS News saying, "My feeling is, at the end of the day, [he can't put an intelligent sentence together without throwing in that cliche while throwing in a few karate chops for emphasis] whoever gets elected president should be in a position to be able to pick you know who they want and the American people will either decide by voting for a Republican or Democrat what the makeup of the court is."

"As someone who's talked about unity, would you take a look at Mr. Garland . . . if you were elected president?" John Dickerson asked the Ohio RINO.

"Well, you know, he received you know, overwhelming support, I think even from Senator Hatch, [another RINO] so of course we'd think about it," Kasich replied. "The way we do it, John, is we look at a person's record. I want a conservative who's not going to make the law but who will interpret the law and somebody of high standing. I don't care about their peccadilloes, you know, 30 years ago. . . " and on and on, hands chopping the air, at the end of the day, etc.

So clearly, a vote for Kasich is clear support of abolishing the Second Amendment, a vote for the government to dictate what to teach in your child's school via Common Core, and an idiot who, if his hands were tied behind his back, would be speechless.


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