Marvin Kitman on La Anderson Cooper--Look Out Wolf Blitzer!

Here's a bunch more of Marvin Kitman's cutting take on the CNN/YouTube debate, starring the reigning diva of The Cable Game, Anderson Cooper--or, as I like to think of His Preeningness, La Anderson Cooper:

Cooper's main job is as the host of Anderson Cooper 360. He was hired in the waning days of the Walter Isaacson- Jamie Kellner administration's attempt to glitz up the news. Cooper was the major plank in the effort to youthanize the news at CNN, which was perceived as the old fart news network.

Coop was 27 with "the ardent look of a Gap model," as one reporter said of his appearance on the scene in 2003, ignoring the fact that he was undoubtedly wearing Gloria Vanderbilt-designed outfits. He was the glamorous son of two celebrities (Gloria Vanderbilt and Wyatt* Cooper), somebody who could appeal to a new generation of news viewers. CNN managers forgot that 18-34s traditionally did not watch news, as his show's early poor ratings proved.

Ouch! But it gets worse:

Cooper had immediate impact. One target audience at the 2003 homecoming of recent graduates at Lock Haven University voted Anderson Cooper the best looking and dumbest newsman of the year.

And Kitman goes on to predict that Wolf Blitzer will be chased out of CNN by Jon "our gimmick is news" Klein.

*Editor's note: Kitman mistakenly wrote "Gary" here--but the famous actor, who died in 1961, was not the father of Anderson, who was born in 1967.

CNN: The Most MIStrusted Name in News

It's taken TCG awhile to make up her mind about Monday night's YouTube debate. But she does know what the American people thought about the debate, at least as they were watching--or not. As we shall see, the Nielsen Verdict was a big thumbs down, despite all the YouTube hoo-haw.

But first, The Cable Gamer was amused by Cal Thomas' syndicated column in which he jibed, "This was not a real debate. This was a boring version of 'American Idol,' or worse, a political rip-off of 'The Price is Right.' (How much do you think each candidate is worth? Come on down!)"

And TCG also got a kick out of Marvin Kitman's scathing commentary in, of all places, the left-leaning Huffington Post. Kitman, the esteemed former TV critic for Newsday, let it rip:

While all eyes were on that pathetic non-debate on CNN Monday night, and all ears were listening to the network's smarmy self-congratulations for staging the You Tube non-debate the rest of the week, another more important debate is going on in the smoke-filled rooms at CNN headquarters in Atlanta. I'm talking about Blitzer vs. Cooper. Who should be the moderator-general for the remainder of Campaign 2008?

TCG will return to the issue of La Anderson vs. The Wolfman, and who will smack down (or bitch slap) whom, but for now, I have been mulling over the ratings.

Specifically, TCG wishes to parse this assertion, from CNN's own press release:

"CNN continues the trend of record-breaking debates with Monday night's CNN/YouTube Debate posting the highest P18-34 delivery in cable news history."

This, however, is not a true statement from "the most trusted name in news." CNN did not make cable news history. In fact, the debate was actually rated 9th in 18-34 for cable news. For the record, Fox News had the absolute highest rated debates, ever, back in 2004. So, CNN's claim isn't correct, and its spin is well, false. Other than that, I suppose, it's OK.

Indeed, CNN is down in ratings (P2 25-54 and 18-49) from their last debate, which took place just last month, on June 3rd. And that was also a Democratic debate, too, so it's an apples-to-apples comparison.

From 7-9 pm, CNN had 2,552,000 viewers in P2+, down six percent from that 6/3 Dem debate. In the 25-54 demo, CNN had 831,000 in 25-54 (down 21 percent). In the 18-49 demo, CNN got 663,000 (also down 21 percent).

In other words, CNN 25-54 and 18-49 demos are significantly down compared to their last Dem debate--despite all the YouTube hype and promotion.