The NYPost sums up Katie Couric's first full year at CBS: "...more than 1.1 million viewers have tuned her out over the last 12 months. That's as if 100 percent of the households in Los Angeles had watched her last year and every last one of them shut their sets off last week."

While that's a dramatic analogy, it does not take into account that Couric's numbers have risen this fall. The broadcast is averaging 6.61M Total Viewers over the last four weeks. That's up from the 5.46M Total Viewer low point Evening News earned during the week of Sept. 3.

Just back from nine days of reporting from Iraq and Syria, Katie Couric celebrated her first year as anchor of the CBS Evening News far from the anchor chair. Here's a roundup of the stories written about her Iraq/Syria reporting and her year at CBS News.

• The New York Times

• USA Today (Opinion by Al Neuharth)

• Boston Herald

• Chicago Tribune

• New York Newsday

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

• Newsbusters

• Media Matters

With tomorrow marking one year since Katie Couric began anchoring the CBS Evening News, there's no shortage of commentary on the occasion. In the L.A. Times, Matea Gold writes that CBS has "gone back to the fundamentals as they try to shake off the disappointment of Couric's debut season." Gold says that while "veteran CBS staffers...are particularly gloomy", Couric herself is "more optimistic and engaged than she has appeared in some time."

In today's Richmond Times-Dispatch, Douglas Durden asks if Couric is "cursed by being first": "Like Barbara Walters, the first female evening news co-anchor 30 years ago, Couric, first woman to solo anchor a network evening newscast, had almost too much riding on her."

And from New York's Newsday: Verne Gay writes that the "inaugural years for any major-league anchor are customarily rough. Tom Brokaw was tagged a lightweight by the press, Dan Rather was ridiculed... Don't even ask about Barbara Walters or Connie Chung."

Calling it "one of the great stories in journalism today," author, Edward Klein defended his new unauthorized biography of Katie Couric as a story most people already know. "Katie has lived her life for the last 15 years in the pages of People magazine and the tabloids."

In his first live TV interview promoting the 246-page book (including 22 pages of notes), Alan Colmes and Sean Hannity pressed Klein about its contents, which Hannity called "harsh stuff."

So, why write it?

"Here's a woman who was an enormous success in morning news, who has become a dismal failure in the evening, why?" Klein asks.

Nevermind, that it took 4 1/2 years of a Couric co-anchored Today show, before the venerable program became a dominant #1; or that when Couric took over The CBS Evening News a year ago, it was the third-rated network broadcast, just as it had been since 1990.

Hannity & Colmes asked Klein if he felt comfortable writing such salacious details knowing Couric is a single mother of two daughters. "Those kids have been reading about their mother for the last 2, 3 years." "I'm only saying what they already know."

And when Hannity blushed at not wanting to read about "her affairs," Klein said "then she should probably not be going all over Nantucket with her current boyfriend and having her picture taken with him all the time." Hmm, okay.

As for Klein's next book, Hannity and Colmes should be safe. "I find powerful women more interesting than powerful men," Klein said.

After a mostly-muted publicity campaign (we hear FNC Monday night) Katie: The Real Story hits store shelves Tuesday.

The Edward Klein unauthorized biography of Katie Couric was neither praised nor pilloried in reviews ranging from the New York Daily News and the Boston Herald to gossip sites Gawker and Jossip. Rather, the reader comes away a skeptic of Klein's stories.

In a conversation Saturday, Couric's personal publicist, Matthew Hiltzik told TVNewser, the book "has less buzz than the latest edition of Webster's dictionary, and as much relevance as subtitles at a silent movie."

His wit notwithstanding, the book veers into serious personal territory: Couric's marriage, her husband's death, her past relationships, and her ambitious ways.

In one episode, as described by the Daily News: "Klein claims that a young, single Couric destroyed the marriage of a top CNN executive because he promised to make her a star."

A friend who has known Couric for 28 years, and who has knowledge of the romance tells TVNewser Couric did date a CNN employee. But he was not someone in a position to have advanced Couric's career. A second source confirms he'd been divorced for a year, before he and Couric started dating.

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Marketwatch.com's Jon Friedman writes, "look for an onslaught of publicity as the media mark the first anniversary of Katie Couric as anchor of The CBS Evening News - as well as that of Meredith Vieira as co-host of NBC's Today."

In the past year, Friedman writes, "Couric's real challenge was measuring up to her glorious past at Today, where the show was No. 1 and she was the star." Meanwhile, "Vieira fulfilled NBC's goals for her. She didn't alienate viewers or colleagues. Today [is] still at the top, though ABC's Good Morning America has been gaining ground."

Gail Shister, TVNewser columnist

As if Katie Couric doesn't have enough tsuris these days, Ed Klein says in an interview that his new book about the CBS Evening News anchor includes details "that will knock readers' socks off."

Of course, Klein made similar claims before his last unauthorized biography, about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in 2005.

Though a best-seller, The Truth About Hillary was eviscerated on both sides of the aisle for its personal attacks and reliance on anonymous sources. To TV bookers, Klein was radioactive.

Katie: The Real Story (are we sensing a theme here?) hits the stands Aug. 28. Klein says he interviewed almost 200 people, about one third of whom chose to be identified.

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The latest name to surface in the ongoing Katie Couric saga at CBS News is that of Scott Pelley, a Washington-based 60 Minutes correspondent since 2004. According to a scenario being heard in whispers at CBS News, Pelly is being positioned to possibly replace Couric at some future date, should her numbers not improve.

Pelley, CBS's former chief White House correspondent, is in the process of moving with his family from the Washington area to New York, where 60 Minutes is produced.

In confirming the move, a CBS spokesperson tells TVNewser: "Scott is an integral part of 60 Minutes. The move is a practical matter."

Pelly was a candidate to replace embattled anchor Dan Rather before Couric was wooed to the CBS Evening news last spring. Rather was said to have been campaigning for Pelley, a fellow Texan.

Should this plan go down, don't look for it to happen before the '08 elections, CBS sources say. As for Pelley, his move north is expected in about a month.

As for the speculation Pelley is in any way being groomed to take over the "Evening News" chair, the CBS spokesperson tells TVNewser that kind of talk is "PURE BUNK."

Mary Mapes, the fired CBS News producer, phoned in to Morning Joe on MSNBC to give her thoughts on her former employer and on Katie Couric.

"That is a tough place to work and the people who have survived it, have really been savvy," she said.

On Couric: "She's gone from being sort of an exuberant presence to someone who looks like they've been kidnapped and drugged and are making a hostage tape. It has nothing to do with her being a male or female, it's just not comfortable to watch."

After thanking Mapes and taking a commercial break, some Morning Joe viewers were none too happy with the host. "We've been getting tons of e-mails from people very upset that I did not scream at Mary Mapes," Joe Scarborough said. "I let people come on. People that I disagree with, people that I agree with. I am not a screamer. We will have an intelligent discussion."

Mapes' most recent work was a story for The Huffington Post comparing President Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby to Bush's death row record as governor of Texas...