CNN canned Aaron Brown today: long rumored, now done. Anderson Cooper takes over and expands his show to two hours and meanwhile, Wolf Blitzer’s lair expands into the evening, into Cooper’s old slot. Said CNN President Jon Klein:
Anderson acts like a regular human being, not like an anchorman. He’s comfortable in his own skin…. He lets his passion for the stories show. It’s refreshing and it’s authentic.
You don’t want an anchor who’s just so over it. Too many on TV, like overpriced NBA stars, are just phoning it in. Anderson gets in the game. It’s infectious.
I did Brown’s show a few times and liked the man. He was thoughtful and attentive and asked good questions and I was delighted that on election night, he quoted a blog post of mine out of nowhere. Still, I’ll admit that he didn’t exactly excite me, staring into the camera — “pensively,” was usually the description — and talking as slowly as I talk fast. So I get it.
Now what can they do about Larry King?