Couric Eyeing CBS Gig

Katie Couric can finally sleep in.

The Today cohost is ready to bolt from her early morning gig at NBC to take over the CBS Evening News, where she'll become the first solo female anchor of a traditional network evening newscast.

An official announcement is expected as early as Wednesday, when Couric celebrates her 15th anniversary on Today. Couric would presumably move to CBS when her NBC contract expires at the end of May.

Neither network has yet to confirm the jump; however, several published reports say that Couric has reached a tentative deal to succeed Bob Schieffer at the CBS anchor desk. She'll also be a regular contributor to 60 Minutes and oversee a variety of prime-time specials.

According to the Washington Post, NBC granted permission for the 49-year-old Couric to enter into negotiations with its rival--something she was otherwise contractually prohibited from doing before May 31. Both networks reportedly believed that it was in their best interests to have the Couric situation settled before the mid-May upfronts, when broadcasters unveil their fall schedules for advertisers.

CBS has had its eye on Couric since Dan Rather signed off in March 2005.

But with the Perky One under contract, the network tapped veteran Washington correspondent Schieffer to fill in until a permanent anchor could be found.

During the past 13 months of his tenure, the CBS Evening News has seen an uptick of 700,000 viewers, though it still remains in third place. CBS hopes Couric will bring with her the audience that made Today tops among the morning shows and vault the newscast ahead of top-rated NBC Nightly News and ABC's second place World News Tonight.

Also, CBS honcho Les Moonves has previously expressed a desire to get away from the "voice of God" newsreaders of days gone by, embodied in the likes of Rather and Walter Cronkite, and instead freshen up the broadcast with some new blood to lure more females and a younger demographic. For his part, the 69-year-old Schieffer has publicly endorsed the idea of Couric joining the news division.

Couric does have hard news experience. Before anchoring Today, she was a reporter at NBC's WRC Washington affiliate. And in her role as America's favorite morning chatterbox, she has conducted interviews with George W. Bush, Tony Blair, Colin Powell, Donald Trump and Bill Gates, among others.

But critics contend that the usual Today fluff and Couric's cheerful demeanor could be a negative once she assumes her new post because she may lack the gravitas necessary for the job.

Matthew Felling, media director at the D.C.-based Center for Media and Public Affairs, says that after reviewing 300 pages of Today transcripts, he found Couric had a tendency "if not to make the story all about her, at least to make the story partly about her and you just cannot do that when you're discussing serious things like the economy or Iraq."

However, Felling tells AP Radio that Couric "might be able to evolve just like Tom Brokaw did" when he moved from Today to NBC Nightly News.

The sentiment was echoed by Erik Sorenson, onetime president of MSNBC and former producer of the CBS Evening News, who told the Post: "A lot of her considerable talents don't translate to the evening news because they can't, by definition. You cannot sing a cabaret number on the evening news. They won't have her ski. They won't have her dance."

Sorenson added, "she has a ton of other skills, interviewing and presiding over news coverage. She was on the air when 9-11 happened. And she brings a huge base of the same kind of people who watch evening news."

With Couric's exit a seemingly foregone conclusion, NBC has been scrambling to find a replacement on Today. The Peacock reportedly has an offer out to ABC's The View cohost Meredith Vieira about tag-teaming with Matt Lauer.

NBC is apparently waiting to have a successor lined up before confirming Couric's exit. The network is also aid to be planning a big Today show sendoff for Couric, which will take place during May sweeps.

Vieira would have to give up her chair on The View, as well as her side job emceeing the syndicated version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. The Post says Vieira's decision is further complicated by her husband's health. He suffers from multiple sclerosis, and she is apparently concerned that Today's arduous schedule would keep her from being with him.

If Vieira, a former 60 Minutes correspondent, accepts the job, that will leave NBC's internal candidate, Campbell Brown, out in the cold.

In another network news moves, CBS just promoted Early Show coanchor Russ Mitchell to take the helm of the network's Sunday newscast.

The situation over at ABC is a bit more jumbled as the Alphabet has been struggling to find a proper substitute for World News Tonight coanchor Bob Woodruff, who was seriously injured in Iraq two months ago. Complicating matters is coanchor Elizabeth Vargas' impending maternity leave.

ABC has been talking with Good Morning America's Charlie Gibson about leaving his post opposite Diane Sawyer permanently and filling in for Woodruff until he's recovered. That would leave Sawyer as lead GMA anchor, with the network expected to find a personality to pair her with.