Anderson Cooper Backlash?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:06pm

From Salon.com and New York Times:

CNN's Anderson Cooper deserves his own blog on Salon. He should also get his own newspaper ("The Coop Tribune"), his own reality show ("Being Anderson Cooper") and his own network sitcom ("The Cooper"). In fact, Simon Cowell should make him both a judge and a contestant on the next "American Idol." Everyone -- right now! -- needs to give Cooper more of his or her attention. He seems to need us to believe that we need him.

As it stands, Cooper is suffering because millions of Americans do not think about him all the time. They don't understand how he feels the pain of his story subjects. They have forgotten that he once reported from an overpass in New Orleans. They still have not bought his book or seen his teary eyes on the cover of Vanity Fair. They cannot comprehend his worldliness.

Thank God for Alessandra Stanley in the New York Times. Today she hails Cooper's recent interview with Angelina Jolie as one of the most narcissistic moments in recent television history: "Mr. Cooper, the silver-haired CNN anchor, did not conduct an interview with the elusive actress; he held a conversation in which he seemed a little too eager to put himself on par with his guest as if the two of them belonged to an elite club of the concerned and caring."

Cooper's problem is this: The more sincere he tries to look -- the more of his heart he bleeds onto the camera lens -- the more he comes off as a phony. When he talks about his brother's tragic suicide, it feels exploitative. When he talks of being in a war zone, he sounds like he wants a medal. He is nothing more than a blue-state Geraldo Rivera, and an insult to reporters who toil every day for the story and not themselves. Maybe it is not all his fault. He is caught in the churn of CNN's quest for its own journalistic Bill O'Reilly. But Cooper is doing the network no favors. CBS, which just hired Cooper for "60 Minutes," may have hitched its fortunes to a fad.

As Stanley concludes, Cooper came off as such a lightweight this week that he succeeded in making Jolie look like Walter Cronkite. To wit, "With journalists like that, its [sic] a small wonder celebrities are starting to do their own reporting."

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:07pm

Boy, do I agree with that!

[WOSQ]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:21pm

I am not unbiased here since I have an unabashed case of the hots for Anderson Cooper. I have this thing about smart men, you know.

This is celebrity journalism not unlike Barbara Walters or every morning show there ever was.

Backlash in a way is a compliment. It seems perhaps Anderson Cooper matters in some scheme of things.

And I still have the hots for him.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:31pm

we just can not like people in this country. we just have to backlash against everyone. it's disgusting and speaks of bitter jealousy.

I applaud mr. cooper.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:39pm

Well, I haven't watched Barbara Walters, in about 25 years, so I can't speak to what she does; but I caught some of his Jolie interview, and I found it very strange. So much so, I was compelled to turned it off. I've liked him in the past. But that interview was really odd.
Updated On: 6/22/06 at 04:39 PM

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:51pm

I bet Cooper gets laid more than O'Reilly and Rivera too! lol.

[fflagg]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:55pm

Speaking of getting laid, the out Mr. Cooper seems to be creeping back into the closet. What about his interview with Cher last night? That was as strange as with Jolie.

I think he is boring. If you see him in Barracuda or Therapy, where he has been, take a pic of him and send it to Page Six. :)

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 4:58pm

getting laid more than a guy who shot butt fat into his face and one whose phone sex logs made the lewinsky tapes seem like high art? god, if he didn't i would just pity him. now when he strats getting a** on a chris berman scale, then we're talking.
you're with me, leather

[suzycat]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:00pm

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a bit obsessed with him. I enjoyed his book... he's had a lot of amazing life experiences reporting from all over the world.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:00pm

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:04pm

I love man if only for that fact that Cher was on his show last night. I have missed my diva. I turn into a big old queen whenever she is on. (I was a big ole dyke when Angelina was on, but that's a different ball of yarn.) I must say, Cher looked good. Someone must be fixing up her old surgeries!

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:07pm

anderson cooper leaves doodle speechless.

[jimnysf]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:11pm

I like him. Besides, his mother used to make sexy jeans back in the 70's.
I'm not a fan of the celeb interviews but that's what it takes to get ratings these days. Maybe if someone who is not a regular AC360 viewer tunes in to see Angelina or Cher, they'll come back another night. I also admire his determination to keep the Katrina victims in the spotlight. Others have moved on giving the impression that everything is fine there when it is not.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:13pm

"Barracuda or Therapy"?
*Borstal makes note to go trolling there for some CNN anchor ass when he visits in early July*

[Unknown User]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:17pm

Why cant we all just go back to when he was just the host of THE MOLE on ABC and be happy and blissfully ingerant.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:22pm

"Besides, his mother used to make sexy jeans back in the 70's."

She used the word "derriere" in the tv commercials but eventually they were pulled and she had to re-record it to say "back there".

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:31pm

borstal, we are sooooo staking those places out!

[bta212]

Posted: 6/22/06 at 5:37pm

Or as my buddy Spencer Sloan put it over at Goldenfiddle:

"Could Anderson Cooper have sucked Angelina Jolie’s dick any harder last night on 360? Sweet malnourished AIDS orphan, she must have thrown some kind of omnisexual, siren spell over him (garlic tea?), because he was acting like a smitten, little, school girl the whole interview through, smiling, giggling, braiding each other’s hair, and bonding over smores and tales of Darfur gang rape. We don’t know about you, but we learned NOTHING. Not one question regarding Brad’s personal hygiene regime, or how bad his pock marks really are. There was no mention of who Maddox’s favorite power ranger is, or how many times Jen called Namibia collect at 4am and hung up on Angie. Nope. And no inquires into how well they tipped the staff at The Burning Shores Resort after renting every room in the dump for 3 months and fencing out the local flavor until the New Messiah was good and ready to hatch. And only then did they slum it on over to the local clinic for a good old-fashioned, totally organic C-section, the way America’s one & only heterosexual God intended."