So long, CBS

Today's announcement: Katie Couric will be leaving NBC and heading over to CBS, where she will be anchor and managing editor of the CBS evening news and work on 60 Minutes.

And that may be it for me and CBS.

I've been watching CBS news since I was a little kid, back in the days of Walter Cronkite. We come from the era of the three networks, and I was never sure if we watched it because we loved Walter Cronkite or because of the reception (pre cable, you know). We stuck with Dan Rather, and I've always gone to CBS first for big news — I'll never forget those Watergate updates that interrupted daytime TV so many summers ago. It was CBS that told me about the Berlin Wall coming down, about Nelson Mandela leaving prison, about the attacks on the World Trade Center.

And now, this bastion of news, this American icon, is being handed over to an idiot.

This isn't personal. I don't know Katie Couric. I'm sure she is a lovely person. And I'm sure she is very bright. But I can't stand her on the Today show.

I know, I just said how we always watched CBS. But in the mornings we watched NBC and Today. Keep in mind that years ago CBS had Captain Kangaroo; they were late-comers in the morning news game. And I quite liked Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley. Never could stand Bryant Gumbel — it always felt like he wanted the show to be all about him (Jane wasn't even allowed to introduce the show — he always had to do it). So when Jane Pauley was ousted, I switched to Harry Smith and CBS in the mornings, where he and Paula Zahn seemed to share responsibilties.

So I didn't watch a ton of Katie Couric on Today. But I got the idea — and she is very popular, so it was hard to miss her. And on occasion, in a hotel or visting someone, I would see her do an interview. And she asks dumb questions. Her interview with J.K. Rowling when the fifth HP book came out was just embarrassing. I think my former classmates at the esteemed University of Missouri School of Journalism would agree: she acts like an airhead.

And CBS is putting this person in charge of their evening news. I shudder. I know she's a woman, but come on, there are more credible women. Connie Chung. Diane Sawyer. Lesley Stahl. Just not Katie Couric.

Maybe I'm being hasty. I guess I should have a look before I judge her too harshly.

But one giggle, and I'll be on NPR for good.