Anderson Cooper premiered in his new time slot on Monday. 360 at 10pm debuted on a sparkling new set and attractive new graphic treatment. I found myself wondering if Cooper was really on vacation last week; the program seemed well-thought-out and rehearsed. I have to admit: I liked the show.

“You know, if you’re joining 360 for the first time tonight, I want to thank you,” Cooper said in his intro. “I hope you don’t mind the new car smell. We have expanded to two hours of live coverage, which means more stories in greater depth. We don’t plan to start shouting at you. There’s plenty of cable news caterwauling already. Nor, we do we plan on telling you what to think. We think you can figure that one out on your own. We want to bring you information accurately, fairly. And we want to hold people and politicians accountable for their words and their actions. Pretty simple.”