Cooper: CNN’s New Coke

CNN’s Anderson Cooper “enjoyed perhaps the shortest honeymoon in recent memory,” “>Variety’s Brian Lowry writes. “No sooner did he supplant Aaron Brown as the face of CNN then critics began to accuse the cable net of another seat-of-the-pants lineup shift, testifying to the channel’s instability and seemingly knee-jerk programming philosophy.

Of course, CNN management bosses stoked the hysteria, foolishly proclaiming Cooper the tangiest flavor since New Coke. Then, after a slew of newspaper profiles, his first week averaged less than 600,000 viewers, failing to generate appreciable curiosity despite the media swarm.”

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