Scott Pelley Did Not Move Ratings Needle In First Week As CBS Evening News Anchor

COMMENTS (17)

• the problem with CBS news is that then need a dozen people at the news desk…….like the VIEW……

  CBS get a lesson from the VIEW….these people are way overpaid……and say nothing worthwhile……………………………………

  Comment by Anonymous — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 3:55pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Actually, it’s the liberal whackjob agenda from CBS that goes waaaay back to Walter Cronkite that’s turned people away from CBS.

    Anyone remember the anti-war jags that Cronkite went on back in the day?? The guy was a leftist anti-American crackpot, and there was no dissent available at the time.

    Thank God for Fox News.

    Comment by Smarg — Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 5:34am PDT  Reply to this post

• Anyone who thought this would be different was fooling themselves. Unlike Couric, Pelley probably won’t be vilified for bad ratings.

  Comment by Jimmy — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 4:48pm PDT  Reply to this post

• In a world of 24/7 cable news…half-hour network news is passe…Walter Cronkite ain’t comin’ back…

  Comment by k4kafka — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 5:00pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • right. i never saw couric one single time, even by accident. nothing against her, just never bothered.

    Comment by old news — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 7:03pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Good news. If the ratings had fallen further it would have been a problem, but stable ratings and no superstar $15M/year salary is a win for CBS.

  Comment by will — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 5:09pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m sorry, but Pelley is awful as anchor. He seems stiff and unnatural. He was, and is, great as a 60 Minutes correspondent, but I had to change the channel each time I tried to watch him.

  CBS is trying again for Voice Of God Cronkite level newscaster. And failing.

  Why they didn’t hire either Harry Smith or Russ Mitchell, two anchors who are masterful, at ease and always do a great job, is beyond me. Mitchell in particular would have been a great choice, and the first solo African-American anchor. (Yes, I remember Max Robinson, but he was co-anchor with Peter Jennings and Frank Reynolds.)

  Comment by Sparky — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 6:04pm PDT  Reply to this post

  • Smith or Mitchell would have been excellent choices. I too was surprised that Pelley was the one who won the golden ticket. At this rate, CBS could run a test pattern and get the same results.

    CBS has been trying to reinvent the wheel for years with their morning show and now the evening news. I don’t know why they are a perpetual also-ran, but for some reason, nobody cares to watch CBS news. Hiring Couric was a waste of money, a mistake and a misstep. It seems like they are just throwing shite at the wall and hoping something sticks.

    Comment by Newz you can use — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 7:11pm PDT  Reply to this post

    • Scott Pelley looks like a gnome and can bore you to tears. He has just one style of reporting, from the desk. At least Katie tried to mix it up a bit, I think she got the short end of the stick when she signed with CBS.

      Comment by Sharon Gonzalez — Tuesday June 28, 2011 @ 2:57am PDT  Reply to this post

  • If you are looking for personality journalism, maybe they would be better choices, though personally I cannot watch Harry Smith. The ratings needle may not have moved, but it was clear that Pelley is delivering a much more serious newscast without the fluff that was always part of a Couric newscast. The fingerprints of 60 Minutes are all over this broadcast. If you don’t get your news from the internet or cable and you want a “hard news” network newscast without the theatrics of Sawyer and Williams, then this is the newscast to watch.

    Comment by DougS — Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 8:11am PDT  Reply to this post

  • You hit the nail right on the head. Pelley seems like a nice guy but he’s just not cut out for doing an evening newscast versus a segment piece on 60 Minutes. Either put in Harry Smith or they might need to re-think about putting Dan Rather back in that chair, but I highly doubt that will happen.

    Comment by Jed — Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 12:36pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Yeah, why didn’t they hire Russ Mitchell? Both Harry Smith and Russ Mitchell seem to be aware of the significance of whatever story they’re introducing, Katie Couric seemed kind of indifferent or like she wasn’t paying attention to the news. CBS News seems more substantial now, with more focus on important stories, that’s more like the old CBS. Give Pelley some time.

  Comment by vf — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 9:31pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Scott Pelley is like watching a robot read the news…It’s a bit creepy

  Comment by Bu — Monday June 13, 2011 @ 9:46pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Find it amazing that CBS can control the 8:00-11:00PM block so consistently but cannot do anything with the rest of the day. They have the 3rd place morning show, mediocre to non-existent daytime schedule (they’ll probably cancel the rest of their soaps in the next year or two) and the 3rd place evening news. Some serious self-examination is in order. Also, Harry Smith would be an excellent replacement one day for the Sunday Morning show.

  Comment by Bob — Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 8:23am PDT  Reply to this post

  • They have the number one soaps. It’s their morning and evening shows that need a boost. Maybe they can get charlie gibson or dan rather or joan lunden back. I’m sure they have had serious examination that’s why they hired couric in hopes that things would turn around and that’s why they replaced their entire team in the morning.

    Comment by jake — Tuesday June 14, 2011 @ 3:26pm PDT  Reply to this post

• 60 Minute articles let Pelley guide you through a complete story. The story predominates, but the presenter’s personality also has a chance to shine through. The evening newscast doesn’t let him do either. The stories are mere snippets, and Mr. Pelley doesn’t have enough stage-presence to grab you in those short little bursts.

  And the MSM is so much a propaganda machine for liberal causes, and for that reason can’t be trusted to tell the truth, I ignore all of them anyway.

  Comment by Jack Brooks — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 5:36am PDT  Reply to this post

• Pelley came to CBS eons ago with the single, undisguised goal of succeeding Rather in the anchor chair. He lobbied for it, his agent lobbied for it, his friends lobbied for it. It was bound to be sooner or later. Ambitiousness is rewarded.
  And I’m sure he would be fine–or Couric would have been fine–if the network had focused on something called…the news. Gimmick and sensation-driven circus shows are not what the audience wants when it tunes in to a network news show, no matter what the producers tell themselves.
  The audience is tuning in with the hope of seeing the work of a crack staff which has bothered to go into the field and find out what is going on in the world. The audience can read headlines anywhere or hear the latest message the White House wants us to hear anywhere. A network newscast isn’t required for that.
  This show can only revive itself by having serious, educated, focused news producers who care about the news and who care about telling stories seriously. There is a reason why BBC News (which I’m not even that crazy about) gets a solid viewership here in the US. BBC skips the clever anchor lead-ins and gets right to the story at hand without the fluff and the glib lines.
  The Evening News’s ratings have been falling for a long time. This is an old problem, which, for whatever reason, they’ve chosen not to address.

  Comment by RichAndBlameless — Thursday June 16, 2011 @ 11:19pm PDT  Reply to this post