Anderson, What the Hell?

Anderson Cooper is pissing me off.
Although he's not my cup of tea for an evening anchor (Reporter? Yes. Co-anchor? Yes. Morning host? Probably. Evening sole anchor? NOT!), I was willing to give him a shot. Sure, I was pissed that he displaced Aaron Brown, but I understand how the news business is. Aaron's a grown-up. We'll go on.

But, Jesus!

Anderson's CNN Show (360) is so goddamned over-produced, it's hard to watch. Talking heads are framed by moving graphics that make a viewer queasy and the announcer's voice is downright oily (they have an ANNOUNCER!).

But here are the final stakes in the heart of Anderson the newsman:

On election night (when Democrats made some nice gains across the country, thank you -- that's news, isn't it?), what story did Anderson lead with? That's right...the effects of divorce on children. Eleven fucking minutes of a lead story about divorce. On ELECTION night! Hell, even Wolf Blitzer scooped the pants off Anderson with election results. So much for Cooper's "nose for news."

And last night -- I still can't believe this -- Anderson let his producers air a feature story on Anderson himself being listed in People Magazine's sexiest people issue. I AM NOT LYING! Shit, even Dan Rather would have balked at that much self-promotion. I mean, CNN has 22 OTHER hours to run a story like that.

What the hell happened to the reporter part of Anderson Cooper? Looks like he misplaced it behind his new cheesy-ass anchor desk.