A talk with Anderson Cooper, starting new syndicated show Sept. 12
Anderson Cooper. AP photo
Anderson Cooper was already a busy man at CNN. But like many of his peers at CNN and sister station HLN (Joy Behar, Dr. Drew, Piers Morgan), he is deciding to do double duty on TV.
Besides “Anderson Cooper 360″ on CNN at8 p.m., he debuts his syndicated chat show at 3 p.m. locally on WXIA-TV Monday, Sept. 12, with family members of the late Amy Winehouse. That’s the type of scoop that Oprah Winfrey might have gotten if she were still around doing her daily talk show.
But Cooper isn’t arrogant enough to say he’s filling Oprah’s shoes.
“I wouldn’t even dare try,” he said in an interview last week. “Oprah’s extraordinary. She’s not going anywhere. Her network is going through some ratings trouble but I have no doubt she’ll do well.”
Even without Oprah, there are plenty of competitors for exclusives. “I think we’re well positioned,” Cooper said. “If you really have a story to tell and you’re a celebrity or someone who just experienced something, we’re the best place to tell it. We have more time than the morning shows. We have a great audience. We have a place where real conversations happen. That’s what people are looking for.”
With daytime TV, he said he’ll be able to handle both social/relationship issues (like Dr. Phil) and pop culture (like Ellen DeGeneres), which is what Oprah was able to do.
Cooper got his first taste doing daytime subbing for Regis Philbin on “Live With Regis & Kelly” 40-plus times. “I learned how much I enjoy working with an audience, engaging a live audience. It’s great to have that feedback. It’s great to talk to people and have real moments,” he said in an earlier phone press conference with media. He also noted nobody at ABC ever offered him the job to replace Regis, who leaves the show Nov. 18. He said he prefers the format of his new show personally over “Regis & Kelly” since he’ll be able to do more than just celebrity interviews.
In the past, Cooper has said 9/11 inspired him to get back into news after he took a break to host ABC’s reality show “The Mole” in 2000-2001. But even if 9/11 hadn’t happened, he said he still would have sought news. “It was more about taking a break,” he said. “I never saw [hosting reality shows] a career.”
He will continue his full duties at CNN and six stories a year for CBS’s “60 Minutes.” If he has to run off to a foreign country where a huge crisis is happening for a week or two, he has shows banked, he said. And he can even do his talk show from abroad if need be.
Based on the shows he’s already taped, he said doing the daytime show has similarities to his news program in terms of doing research and interviews. But instead, “you’re dealing in a multi-dimensional environment thanks to that studio audience. They play a role in it. There’s more give and take. It’s fun. And it shows different sides of my personality.”
Among some of the other early shows, he has interviews with “Harry Potter” actor Daniel Ratcliffe, his buddy Kathy Griffin, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast (who were booked before Russell Armstrong’s suicide) and Snooki, who suggested they get spray-tanned together. He is also doing one with actor Gerard Depardieu, the reason Cooper went into a giggle fit a couple weeks ago:
And what is it about him and Griffin anyway? “I have no idea,” he mused. “It’s really interesting to me. She’s been very sweet to me. I met her the first time on ‘The Mole.’ Then we started doing New Year’s Eve together. She makes me laugh. She makes me incredibly nervous but she makes me laugh. She actually spent a weekend on Long Island. It was exhausting but we shot some funny stuff.”
And during the press conference, he defended his love for the “Real Housewives” and doing a show on the Beverly Hills cast: “I wouldn’t say it’s a freak show. There are legitimate reasons to talk to these people,” he said. “Frankly, it’s an interesting hour. It fits the bill of being informative and there are lighter moments that are entertaining.”
Cooper plans to tape five shows a week, three days a week. On two days, he’ll shoot two shows, which means a 14 to 16 hour day. He plans to work on his daytime show until 3 p.m., then work at CNN the rest of the day.
But as a workaholic, he said “it doesn’t feel like work. It feels like an extension of myself, of all the stuff I’m interested in. I love doing research. I love talking to people and following politics, too. For me to spend hours a day reading stuff is not work. The Marines in Afghanistan? That’s work.”
His syndicator Telepictures Productions is part of the Time-Warner family, which also owns CNN. That helped simplify things. Telepictures found space for his show at Lincoln Center 500 feet from CNN studios in New York City. It’s an existing space called Jazz at Lincoln Center’s The Allen Room. At night, there are musical performances. During the day, they move the studios in. Though this is a logistical challenge, he likes the fact it’s a real space and not just a TV studio.
Cooper isn’t sure if “Anderson” will help or hurt him at CNN, where “360″ was recently shifted to 8 p.m. On one hand, he’ll get more exposure via daytime and that might add more audience at night. Then again, he said he’s aware some people might see him less as a newsman since daytime TV is perceived as lightweight. “CNN has been nice enough to let me do other things,” he said. “As long as I’m doing stuff that isn’t phony, as long as I’m being myself. People know I have a serious side and a not-so-serious side.”
Newsmen have done celebrity chat shows before, Cooper noted, going back to Edward R. Murrow, who was better known as a journalist but hosted the talk show “Person to Person” from 1953 to 1959.
Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
accessAtlanta Partner Sites
Sections
Advertise on accessAtlanta.com »
Reach the audience you want by advertising on accessAtlanta.com
Join the Access Atlanta Network »
Advertisers and Publishers, expand your reach by joining the Access Atlanta Network.
Tell us what you think about the site
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement | About our ads
© 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
33 comments Add your comment
SAWB
September 12th, 2011
12:38 am
Wouldn’t it be nice to have just some nameless nimrod doing the news? I mean now we have all these “News Personalities” and it is more about them than what’s actually going on. Maybe we need to start using CGI generated news people who can share the news without marketing a book or plugging a daytime talk show. At one time I liked CNN Headline News because they seemed to just stick to the news, but then this Robin Meade chick goes off and cuts a country album. Geez what’s next the cast of CNBC on a special episode of Survivor?
Editor
September 12th, 2011
12:47 am
Piers Morgan is not on HLN. He’s on CNN.
punniless
September 12th, 2011
1:45 am
An occasional pun is fine when trying to deliver a new story but an endless onslaught of pun (especially the ones that have to be explained) is just plain overkill.
GUNGA DIN
September 12th, 2011
2:27 am
wonder if he will finally “come out of the closet” on his new show?
lance
September 12th, 2011
3:34 am
nothing but haters I see….i guess you all don’t understand business, because at the end of the day it all about $$$ who will generate buzz and increase the bottom line.. Who cares about is his personal life.. last time I check nobody putting a gun to none of you guys head so if you dont like it dont watch! Wow this board continues to get more negative comments on a daily basis….I guess everybody filled with bitterness
jason brees
September 12th, 2011
6:20 am
All the best….
http://otavo.tv/
Julia Sugarbaker
September 12th, 2011
8:39 am
Anderson has talent, he’s enjoyable to watch. Oprah Winfrey had luck and people behind her making good decisions. She was at the right place at the right time and that’s the only reason she went as far as she did. Now that she’s no longer in “the place” and the people who she had behind her are gone you see what’s happening. I predict Oprah’s new venture will eventually fade out or be sold off and she’ll sink into the mediocrity she so richly deserves.
Mr. Ed
September 12th, 2011
8:45 am
I confess, I’ve had a mancrush on Anderson Cooper for years. He’s articulate and anybody who can stomach Kathy Griffin on New Year’s Eve commands respect. I wish him well with his new program.
Sharon
September 12th, 2011
9:22 am
Just love the way Anderson explains the news–Piers has to go—a snob and holier than now attitude
G. Blanston
September 12th, 2011
9:34 am
Piers’ holier-than-thou attitude couldn’t hold Oprah’s self-importance’s jock strap
Send Piers home...
September 12th, 2011
11:25 am
PLEASE! It’s more interesting watching paint dry…
Kramer
September 12th, 2011
11:37 am
Another Cooper show that no will watch. I guess as long as you are liberal and have looks you can keep on bombing on CNN, MSNBC, and the big three.
IT'S TIME
September 12th, 2011
12:06 pm
Wish he’d come out of the closet!! He’s a hottie.
Mama's Boy
September 12th, 2011
12:07 pm
I bet Gloria Vanderbilt is one proud Mama.
Jay
September 12th, 2011
12:18 pm
I am currently watching Anderson’s first show and I am not liking his style of interviewing. The questions directed to the Amy Whinehouse family, for example, are too basic and dry. Example: To Amy’s parents… “How do you feel when you see Amy on this video?” Come on man… It’s a damn sad situation of course. As a parent, how do you think they feel, ass…
Not Watching It
September 12th, 2011
12:42 pm
Anderson does not need 3 broadcasting jobs. There are too many talk shows on air with the same reality stars on. Was AC trying to avoid having the entire JS cast on the show by allowing only Snooki? Having any of the Real Housewives on is boring, how are they any different than Mob Wives or Basketball Wives…etc? How long will it be until he interviews any Kardashian/Jenner on his show? And I agree with some of the comments, Anderson will have to reveal his partner at some point, Dr. Phil talks about Robin, Ellen talks about Portia, and Oprah constantly mentioned Steadman. Why should he leave his significant other out? Oprah was on the air for 25 years because people watched her show. If she were still on most of these new talk shows would never have made it to air.
Joe Dokes
September 12th, 2011
1:00 pm
TV is just too cluttered
anderBanter
September 12th, 2011
2:26 pm
Anderson lied. He didn’t meet Kathy Griffin on “The Mole”. She was on Celeb Mole in October 2002 and Anderson was already working for CNN at that time and supposedly couldn’t get out of his contract to work on Celeb Mole. So why lie Anderson? Why can’t you just tell the truth?
anderBanter
September 12th, 2011
2:34 pm
Oh and I forgot. How has Kathy Griffin been sweet? Punching him in the stomach hard on NYE was mean. Embarrassing him on camera is mean. Her nasty mouth is mean. If he thinks she’s been sweet, then I have a bridge he can buy. She’s using him and his mother.
Anderson Cooper done lost his mind | Morology-the study of inane or silly talk
September 12th, 2011
2:39 pm
[...] http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/2011/09/11/a-talk-with-anderson-cooper-starting-new-syndicated-sh... [...]
Al Gore
September 12th, 2011
3:06 pm
AC and I bumped into each other in the steam room over at the House of Tokyo massage parlor on Piedmont Avenue. . When I started speaking with my lisp he said, “Hello, the man that should have been president!”. I was so flattered by his charm.
Why Anderson Cooper’s Daytime Talk Show Is More Likely To Fail Than Succeed
September 12th, 2011
4:04 pm
[...] Anderson Cooper‘s daytime talk show launches with great fanfare. The media coverage ranged from breathless comparisons to Edward R. Murrow to “one of the great hopes to inherit the audience Ms. Winfrey leaves [...]
thomas clarke
September 12th, 2011
5:48 pm
copper anderson i need help i have not beenable to get on with my live becouse the city of Daivs will not help me . I was injerd on 9-3-02 with a neck and back injery the City of Davis told me that i wood be payed long term disabiaty untell i turn 65 yeaof age then 1 and a half years latter the Cityof davis stoped paying me and the have black balled me they made it so i cant get unenplyment the City has seen to it that i dont get the proper traementor sergerys that i need and i found out that they i was told that i was dead .I have a plate in my neck in the c3-c4-ve and the cityof davis told the sergen not to do the 3-4-5-6 in the neck and now i have th 5-6 cruching thr spinalcored and the l2 l3 l4 l5 and the s1protrding hemrging /boldging dise in the low back wich the city has exnored for alot of years i have been to court alot with not change the just give me pain pills .But that isen,t a cear the city hasen,t tryed to better by coundithionthe need to be resposable for my injerys that were on the job i need m.r.i of neck and back and sergerys so that i may have a better live . i have cramping /stabing burnnig pain down my spin and arms and lags and hans and feet numness swelling severcramping numness in the toes. I need helpi have try every thing and i just keepsending me back to workers comp. can you help me 1 530 668 9513 i can be tell you if you could see calling me .tter
thomas clarke
September 12th, 2011
5:50 pm
I NEED HELP PLEACE
thomas clarke
September 12th, 2011
5:51 pm
Enter your comments here
Julia Sugarbaker
September 12th, 2011
5:59 pm
Thomas Clarke needs a lithium, STAT!
pw
September 13th, 2011
8:55 am
oh my goodness – what is with people in Atlanta and their fascination with what people do behind closed doors. It’s not your business. This man is a journalist – that is his job. What he, Tyler Perry and any other male public figure does behind closed doors should not be a topic of conversation for anybody BECAUSE IT IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS. Goodness.
Doris Rotolo.
September 13th, 2011
10:07 am
…Good luck Anderson on your new show.
Doris Rotolo.
September 13th, 2011
10:11 am
Thomas Clarke must have had a special job…and it was not teaching english or spelling. but none the less he should get medical attention. It is not true that only well educated people suffer pain.
If that was the case…no one on here would have to ever take a pill!
Doris Rotolo.
September 13th, 2011
10:13 am
sarcasm is so much fun…………
Anderson Cooper talks about new talk show | Palm Beach Entertainment: Events, movies, restaurants, nightlife & more | pbpulse.com
September 13th, 2011
12:20 pm
[...] Click here for more at ajc.com. [...]
Jayson
September 13th, 2011
8:14 pm
I love Anderson. I hope he finally comes out on his daytime show. I think it would free him up so much – He has such a fun personality and is perfectly poised to be this generation’s Donahue. It has been interesting to see how young his in-studio audience has been these first few days. I think if his show takes off, he might leave CNN. I Don’t like his show at 8 and then repeating at 10. It seems crazy for a news network like CNN – struggling in the ratings- to air a rerun at 10pm ET in the height of prime time. 8pm is very competitive time slot too. Telepictures is very experienced in daytime tv- I used to work there with Lisa Morin when she was on Jenny Jones. They do Ellen, did Rosie, and they know how to run these shows like clockwork. Many of the executives there have been there for decades. Funny to see the old secretaries now being the executives. Anyway good luck Andy..
Robert P. Paquette
September 19th, 2011
4:36 pm
I was deeply tounched by your program today hosting your beautiful mother whose Vanderbilt family name has been with me all my life. However embarrassing it may have been to you I really appreciated seeing and listening to your mother and the stories she told. More hosts of TV programs should do the same thing, as we like to know about you and your families. It brought tears to my eyes when Collins sang Amaising Grace (I may have misspelt that but that’s one of the cost of turning old), as I knew what your mother was thinking about your brother and her dear son. I could not fathom hearing about the death of my sons and biological daughter and grandchildren. It would be just too much for me to take. So I’m very impressed with your mother (if I was not married to my wife, and haven’t had conjugical relationship with her for 23 years and don’t cheat on her and males are definitley not my cup of tear as I am quite hetersexual, I would offer marriage to your mother) and the strong impression she left on me. And, she is quite beautiful and appealing to me at 75. I was always impresssed with you Anderson so keep up the good work because I see a goodness in you that you probably get from your mother. I probably could have said that in less words, but I’m a writer practicing my craft after 35 years service in the Canadain federal government. Its a hobby that I can’t stop doing.