Anderson Cooper's Ratings In The Sub-Basement Now

Geez. I asked why anyone would watch Anderson Cooper when word of the CNN ratings collapse broke back in October.

So, why would anyone watch Anderson Cooper?

Every PR image I've seen of the guy, keeping in mind that's all I know of him, he always has this far off look in his eye that says, Hey, I'm the newest Marlboro man who just happened into this downtown gay bar. Anyone looking to take someone needy home tonight?

Well CNN's rating collapsed alright. And they fell on Anderson Cooper given the size of the hole he's down in. Pretty soon they'll be competing with shortwave radio over there and probably be starting behind. I doubt Dobbs leaving helped them at all. What's next for CNN? Stay tuned, ... or not. Never watch it myself.

Anderson Cooper is fading in the ratings.

The respected CNN anchor has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year. His 10 p.m. show, "Anderson Cooper 360," has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures.

Last month, in Cooper's time slot, Fox News' "On the Record" attracted an average viewership of 1.9 million while "360" averaged 672,000; repeats of MSNBC's "Countdown" and HLN's Nancy Grace show averaged 655,000 and 458,000, respectively.

But in the ad-friendly 25-54 demo, those same repeats won out over Cooper with 224,000 (MSNBC) and 214,000 (HLN).

Comments

[Joe Blow]

So I can't figure it out - when he calls tax protesters "teabaggers," does he mean that as an epithet, or a term of endearment?

[tortillapete]

RIP Cornhole News Network...

[Mart Martin]

In answer to Joe Blow, Anderson uses "teabaggers" as neither epithet nor term of endearment. He uses it to be "cute and clever" in the eyes of the left. It's like a parent saying something silly to amuse the kids. Just a charming (Not!)part of Anderson's whole "Daddy" persona probably.

[Sean]

Come on, he didn't use "teabagger" as a way to grossly insult those concerned with out of control government spending (i.e., fiscal conservatives)?

It had to have been one of the ugliest and most partisan things I've ever heard said on any newscast (then again, I don't even know what channel MSNBC is on my current cable provider, so it could be worse there).

[Metallica]

Go to hell, Anderson and take your dirty Leftist gay politics with you.
You know what's going to happen? The Leftys at CNN will fall all over themselves to get him another high paying gig somewhere. And blame Fox News.
And Palin.
And Bush.
And Reagan.
And Nixon.
And Beck.
And...

[Lala]

He's a bore.

[Mudshark]

I'll say this about Anderson Cooper - wait, who is Anderson Cooper...?

[Jim]

It's hard to read the news when you're teabagging.

[KingShamus]

Hey CNN: I don't think you understand how this whole 'ratings' thing works.

[radar]

"Respected CNN anchor"? Who the hell respects Anderson Cooper?

[Joe Bobe]

I almost hate to say it, but, if people on the right are the teabaggers, that would make the politicians the "teabaggees".

[Nick Reynolds]

Manbearpig is behind this . . . I'm super-serial!!! That is all.

[Anon]

Just what are AC's qualifications, anyway?

I mean, he did Channel One (widely panned, barely journalism for kids). Then a couple years at ABC. And.... um... what else? He's a Vanderbilt?

Poof! He's an anchor!

His personal life is his own business. His journalism is mediocre. His political bias has damaged CNN's attempt to position itself as "neutral" between Fox and MSNBC (though it's arguable that that wasn't going to happen anyway). As far as I can tell, he's surfing along on his good looks.

A lot would have been forgivable if he'd had any journalistic chops whatsoever.

[Charlie Gibson]

Anderson Cooper? Never heard of him.

[RW]

I stopped watching AC after the smug teabagger comment. Candy Crowley used that term recently. What don't they understand? They are alienating half the country.

[Mitchell]

I think it was more like one of the kids trying to say something "cute" in front of the grown-ups, and the grown-ups reacted in outrage at what the little ill-mannered nit-wit said.

[Jim T]

Let's see if I understand this, Anderson Cooper insults tea party protesters by calling them "teabaggers" with that shy grin which indicates he knows exactly what he's saying, and wonders why people aren't watching. CNN sends out a reporterette, to the Chicago tea party protest, and she starts give one of the protesters Obama talking points, and they wonder why people aren't watching.

2 things, first of all, who said Anderson Cooper was respected. Respected by whom? Secondly, there's a climategate going on, where is the MSM, where are the stories on CNN, and when are they going to catch up to Fox. People know the only place they'll get all the news is on Fox, everyone else is going to be taking orders from the White House about what the news of the day is.

[Carol Herman]

Once, to me, a tea bag meant Lipton's. Never thought of men's testicles as tea bags. And, anyone who uses it to describe a sex activity isn't playing with a full deck.

By the way, the first I ever saw of TEA BAGS, were actual Lipton's hanging from a man's hat. As he showed up at the first event where ordinary folk went to protest, back in April. It meant to make a reference to THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. Are our journalists so poorly taught they didn't even know "the first meaning?"

[Henry Yellar]

You know what? That's pretty funny. Buh-Bye Anderson.

[Fen]

Filcher Anderson Cooper.

[Henry Yellar]

Oh, and Buh-Bye CNN. Won't miss ya.

[John in California]

Is the Communist News Network still on the air?

[Rock]

Given that the politics in this nation are close to evenly divided, I find it odd that Anderson feels the need to insult what presumably might be a large portion of his audience, and more importantly what should be expected to be a large portion of those who might be consumers of those products advertised on his show. Rating tell the story and his sponsors are not getting the exposure they have paid for.

[Wyatt Wingfoot]

Widdle Pinky Vanderbilt likes Earl Grey's bags to tickle his chin.

[fit2post]

I heard that DB, Donna Brazille, use the t-bagger term at a Sunday roundtable recently. The left is a closed circle and they mimic each other, with Olbermann at the top of their dung heap. I tend to switch off any d-bag who says t-bag.

[Anna Keppa]

When a lib uses the T-word, I simply tell him from now on I will refer to gays and lesbians as
b**tstuffers and c**tlickers ( w/o the asterisks, of course).

They generally look shocked and POed that I would use such "offensive" terms --- then it sinks in.

Try it: you'll find they either squirm with embarrassment, or lamely try to say "T-bagger" isn't as offensive.

[tom swift]

Very odd, that "teabagging" stuff. The Boston Tea Party was one of the pivotal moments in American history; it led directly to the colonies acting as something resembling a country, rather than separate and isolated settlements. British tax policy backfired badly on that score.

All in all, not something to be dismissed so frivolously. Might as well refer to that bit of animal skin with the Constitution written on it as toilet paper. Piss off, Cooper.

[GT]

"Poof! He's an anchor!"

Is that an anti-gay slur?

......

G.O.B.: So, did you see the new Poof?

Michael: (stands, closes the door) His name’s Gary. And we don’t need any more lawsuits, okay?

G.O.B.: No, I was talking about the magazine. (shows him his Poof magazine. Beat) Wait, Gary’s gay?

[Xerocky]

It's hard to think that CNN could really be this stupid, hitching themselves to Obama's star so much so that when it fades, CNN fades. But it seems that that's exactly what happened.

It's funny how as I was typing this, ABC is on in the background and the spot for Jimmy Kimmel (another real winner!) had an anti Sarah Palin joke. They're all living in such a bubble.I guess they think that because they blew this particular bubble, it can't ever pop.

[dave72]

Andy's man-love for President Pantywaist is dragging him down....

[Vail Beach]

I like Cooper's girl partner though. She has a future. A lovely face and great delivery. I have no idea if she has a brain in her head, but she's easy on the eyes and ears.

[I liked Aaron Brown better]

Whatever happened to Aaron Brown?
You know, the journalist who was shoved aside for pretty-boy Cooper?
I liked Brown alright, but never got into his replacement.
Don't watch CNN much at all anymore.

[el polacko]

don't like his reporting style ? fine. think that cnn is a load of lefty crap ? terrific. but all this juvenile anti-gay snickering is just...sad.

[Elroy Jetson]

The Goracle will hire him on Current TV. That is where he belongs. Or maybe he can do a tag team with Dan Rather.

[T MacDonald]

I saw him once working as a game show host on that dreadful gameshow cable channel. I thought, hey, that's the guy who all the libs love! My wife and I laughed our asses off!

[Flash Hole]

"The respected CNN anchor has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year."

He must not be very well respected if few people care to watch...

[Dan Riehl]

"all this juvenile anti-gay snickering is just...sad"

You mean like his making "teabagging" jokes, I suppose, right?

[Oda Mae]

He looks like a possum with that white hair and too-close-together eyes.

[Rich Vail]

when I want to see/read DNC talking points, I go to their website...I don't want to read it in a newspaper (don't buy them any more) nor do I want to see it on a news cast...when I watch TV news, I watch FoxNews...it's the only one that even pretends to be evenhanded.

[JDehav]

Lala is right. AC is a complete bore. A smug and arrogant individual.

[Gregg the Obscure]

In the early 1980s I briefly worked on a construction project. The various contractors acquired humorous nicknames. For instance Artistic Plumbing became Autistic Plumbing. A company named Threewit Cooper got the nicknames Halfwit Cooper and Shitwit Cooper. Anderson Cooper has too little intelligence and class to qualify for either Halfwit or Shitwit.

[T.W. Elliott]

If the millions of people who travel through U.S. airports on a daily basis weren't a captive audience to CNN's blatantly-biased drivel, the numbers would be even worse.

Why do I suspect that Ted Turner, that paragon of traditional American values, is somehow responsible for the fact that CNN is the only available choice in well over 90% of our nation's aiports?

As an airline pilot, I spend a lot of time sitting around airport gates, waiting for my airplane to come in. Like everyone else, I am forced to listen to what is piped in over the airport's cable television feed, whether I choose to or not.

Is there another human being on the planet - besides Keith Olbermann, of course - more insufferable than Jack Cafferty?

Listening to Wolf Blitzer and the aforementioned "Insufferable One" engage in their usual Bush-bashing banter is akin to having a root canal, sans anesthesia, only not nearly as pleasant.

Isn't it past time to allow others - Oh, I don't know, maybe FOX News - an opportunity to bid for the contract?

Can someone - PLEASE!!! - make this happen?

Thanking you in advance.

T.W. Elliott

[dr kill]

I remember way back when , when CNN threw what's his name out of the anchor seat so little-miss Vanderbilt could sit in it. OOOOh, he's the next big thing! He looks like such a thoughtful young man! Hahaha, He looks like Ruth Anne in Mommy's rocker. Screw them.

[MikeNC]

Interesting that liberals, who are defenders of all things gay, are so quick to use gay sexual practices as slurs against those with whom they disagree.

[Tantor]

What strikes me about Anderson Cooper 360 is that it's mostly about Anderson Cooper striking a pose with some news as background. When he hits the road, there's hardly a shot that doesn't feature him inf the foreground, perhaps only a few seconds of landscape establishing shot at most. I mean, it's not the "CNN News", it's the Anderson Cooper Show, kinda like Entertainment Tonight for news. The news is peripheral. It's really all about Anderson Cooper modelling the proper response to the news for his liberal audience. It's like the Daily Show with the attitude mufflied but no jokes.

[T.W. Elliott]

In case anyone has forgotten, it was Anderson Cooper who had an exclusive a few years back, when CNN "embedded" one of their reporters with enemy combatants in Iraq, and later, showed film of American soldiers being fired upon by these same enemy combatants.

Unbelievable.

Over the years, CNN has made a habit of this kind of "journalism."

I'm reminded of Bernard Shaw's refusal to be debriefed by the CIA/DOD upon returning from Iraq - along with the two other members of the "Boys of Baghdad," John Holliman(RIP), and "Baghdad Peter" Arnett - of his reporting the beginnings of Gulf War I from the top of the Al Rasheed Hotel.

When asked why he'd refused, Shaw replied that as a journalist, he was an "Internationalist," and therefore had no "singular national allegiance."

Can anyone imagine Ernie Pyle or Edward R. Murrow taking this position?

Anderson Cooper is just the latest in a long, "distinguished" line of CNN hacks, masquerading as objective journalists.

[mark c]

i think his downfall is partially because Fox let Greta off the missing persons beat. her show lately has had political figures and current events themes. she is personable and a good interviewer. If I'm not mistaken her personal politics trend left as well.I hope her numbers continue to rise while CNN and AC look on in disbelief.

[seekeronos]

"--- Shaw replied that as a journalist, he was an "Internationalist," and therefore had no "singular national allegiance." ---"

IMHO, that should have been a first-class ticket right on to the government's "no fly list".. or "barred from entering the USA" list.