After the recent failed effort by CBS and Katie Couric to boost ratings by going to Iraq, TMZ tries to hammer the last few nails in that coffin with their new show, a cross between Entertainment Tonight and The Soup–and it’s on at 6:30 pm. As mindless gossip shows go, it ain’t bad. It’s got just enough YouTube celeb fight action and enough Soup snark without the ‘take itself too serious’ vibe of Entertainment Tonight.Interesting that it seems like the first program that got its initial success online, then made the leap to TV. Usually it’s the other way around. Why promote Tv unless you aren’t generating enough ad revenue online. TV still delivers in that area.
More importantly though, does anyone really need the evening news anymore? If you’re not reading the local papers, then you’re likely online like me scanning Drudge for the latest. And if shows like TMZ could care less about intruding into Area 51 between 6:30-7:00 pm each night, who’s next then? (I don’t count the tons of sitcom reruns on during that time either. They’ve all just become more white noise because now one show can be on 15 different channels. Take the Law & Order spinoff orgy lasting eight hours each night.)
Honestly though, I’ve skipped the news now for a few years. Is TMZ’s move the real beginning of the end? Looks like, because the single greatest advantage online news has is that it’s always breaking a story on something, and you’re likely in front of the computer to find out about it. And if even if you’re working and not surfing, usually someone emails you about something or IMs you. The nightly news has only 23 minutes and change to sum up the day.
How can it compete?
Tags: TMZ.com, Katie Couric, CBS Evening News
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