Katie Couric

Rose had watched the TODAY SHOW while dressing for work. As Rose pulled on pantyhose and sipped espresso, Katie Couric bubbled about a celebrity’s memoir or reported grimly about terrorism. Rose was not a morning person. But she figured if Couric could act lively at seven a.m., so could she. Rose pitied Couric when her husband died at a relatively young age, but mostly Couric was too cute for her taste. She didn’t understand the Katie Couric cult. Randy Quaid’s character on a cancelled comedy-drama had confessed to a crush on Katie Couric.

Rose had been astonished. A crush on Katie Couric?

America had a crush on Katie Couric. So she gathered. Or at least CBS did. Couric was the new CBS news anchor. A huge budget had been allotted for advertising Couric’s new job. The TV preview of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY promoted the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric as a “series debut” and flatteringly described Couric as a “smart, pantsuited ‘managing editor’...who couldn’t be dragged off message.”

A series debut? Wasn’t that a little crazy?

Katie Couric wasn’t on Rose’s mind. Not really. She came home from work fuming about her boss’s modification of a design for a riverfront condominium.

He has no eye, she told the dog, Binkie. I’ll become a professional dog walker. Would you like that?

She gave Binkie a biscuit and made a cup of tea.

Sipping Assam tea, she listened to the messages on her answering machine. The County Board of Elections asked if she was a registered voter. Her mother said, Call me after the news After the news? Why? She called her mother, who shrieked, I’m watching Katie Couric.

Couric’s debut was a historic. Rose switched on the news. Rose and the dog, Binkie, zoned out during a commercial for laundry detergent. Then Couric appeared, professional, face unlined, fascinating Rose with her agelessness. Couric, long a power on daytime TV, now controlled the newsroom once dominated by Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather.

This isn’t so bad, Rose thought as Couric introduced the news. The segments were abbreviated and choppy, but that was 21st century network news. Couric explained the addition of some features that sounded okay. But the “Free Speech” editorial by a hip documentary film maker was bland and uncontroversial, probably toned down for TV, and the “Snapshot” segment was nothing but a still of a VANITY FAIR cover photo... Rose felt disillusioned

Rose groaned and switched off the TV. She’d hated it when Rather did sentimental. She didn’t think that Couric should do cute.

She understood the temptation. She used to do cute herself. She liked to design cute houses. She lived in a cute newish house.

But Katie Couric wanted to play with the Big Boys. She had covered 9/11 and done celebrity interviews. She had asked Hillary Clinton tough questions in the wake of Monicagate (the invasion of the Clintons’ privacy had horrified Rose). Couric was a professional..

And now the Big Boys wanted Couric to do cute.

Rose called her mother.

Isn’t Katie Couric cute? her mother asked. What a change from Bob Schieffer.

Uh huh, Rose said. And they discussed the new TV season.