It’s open season on Katie Couric as the death match between the Ice Queen (Diane Sawyer) and the former Girl Next Door (Couric) gains traction.
As ever, the tabloids love a catfight.
In case you haven’t noticed, amid all the headlines about the Michael Jackson trial, the buzz in media circles is all about the dueling divas of TV’s rival morning shows.
Katie versus Diane! The claws are out!
Couric’s reported runaway ego is to blame for the trashing she’s getting in print these days. Sawyer’s relaxed on-air style and willingness to be a goofball on national TV is credited with helping her win points for ABC.
Whatever. The fact is, after a 10- year winning streak, “Today” is no longer the dominant morning show.
Of course, the state of ABC’s primetime slate (hot, with “Desperate Housewives” and “Lost” the talk of the season) versus the state of NBC’s (not, with “Joey” and “ER” hardly worth bragging about) contributes to the overall ratings reversal. Additionally, there are layers of producers, researchers and writers behind the scenes who deserve credit or blame for the changing standings.
But it’s easier to cast this as a girl fight.
The focus on the two stars is inescapable. New York magazine headlined its feature on the subject “Duel at Sunrise … How the former Ice Queen left America’s Sweetheart in a meltdown.”
True, “Good Morning America” has closed the gap with the once-invulnerable “Today.” When Sawyer and Charlie Gibson took over as co-hosts of “GMA” six years ago, their show had 3 million fewer viewers than “Today.” By last year they had shaved the difference to 1.3 million. In a dramatic turnaround revealed in May, the gap had narrowed to 45,000. On some days, “GMA” actually beats “Today.”
Both shows earn hundreds of millions of dollars in operating profits. While other areas of broadcasting are in decline, the morning audience continues to grow.
Meanwhile, the business is reeling: Network primetime advertising revenues are flat and projected to decline. A few network chiefs went on record last week predicting that not all six networks will survive the next five years.
Executives are panicked about people skipping ads, with digital video recorders like TiVo endangering the business model itself.
Shouldn’t we be talking about these ominous shifts – or at least about NBC’s stunning slide from first to worst in the primetime ratings? Apparently the dames on dawn patrol make for better reading.
Couric’s contract is up next May. Is it possible she could be forced to bow out?
“‘Forced’ would be too strong a word,” said media analyst Andrew Tyndall, editor of the Tyndall Report, which tracks network news programs. “I put a lot of credence in a lot of the churning that’s going on” in the battle between “GMA” and “Today,” he said. Still, he sees through the catfight angle.
The key factor is that ABC as an overall network is doing better, and NBC is doing worse.
Beyond that, Tyndall agreed, there’s an enormous number of elements that goes into these shows. “To label it all Diane and Katie is too simplistic.”
Couric became the best-paid journalist in the world with her last $16 million-a-year contract, when NBC was making super profits on the “Today” show.
“Now they’re just making normal profits, not obscene profits,” Tyndall said. “On that logic, she should take a pay cut.”
Of course big network stars don’t take pay cuts. It could never happen. Could it?
“If it happened, it would be unprecedented,” Tyndall said. “There’s an entire industry out there that would be dismayed if that came to pass.”
For now, Sawyer’s importance to the success of “GMA” is shrinking. The recent promotion of frequent substitute Robin Roberts to co-anchor assures that Sawyer will do less and less, while Couric seems more and more central to the success of “Today.”
Tyndall agrees the dueling diva angle is maxed out.
“This is not a catfight. They can take off their wet T-shirts right now.”
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-820-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
