Sex sells on the new CBS Evening News after all
Wow. CBS pulled a fast one.
They introduce Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News, all made up and airbrushed and botoxed to the edge, yet they squeeze her into a little short white turkey jacket that only accentuates her middle aged plumpness, and then they lead off the show, not with news, but a long 60 Minutesish piece starring the network’s resident sexpot.
The star of last night’s much-watched broadcast wasn’t Katie at all, but the former swimsuit (or was it underwear?) model and Steve Irwinesque daredevil, Lara Logan (known affectionately in the British tabloids, thanks to her past, as Lara “34D” Logan).
It’s a clever reversal.
Many of us expected that Katie would banish all those sexy young chiquitas who surrounded Bob Schieffer in his Charlie’s Angels guise. Or that she’d try to play the older, experienced, news veteran vamp.
But, damn the Slimfast and photoshopping, they plopped her up high on the chair like they had to do on the Today show and hit us straight on with the sexiest of them all. It sure countered the impression that show biz Katie was hired for sex appeal.
Unfortunately, the juxtaposition doesn’t add to Katie’s gravitas.
And the Baby Boomer references are cloying as only CBS can be– sort of like the first season of Big Brother. It’s comfort food and kitsch to have Walter Cronkite do the opening, but the Ron Burgundy & Mary Tyler Moore bits are morning show stuff.
(Our staff is searching for those modelling shots.
Contact us here if you have a lead!)
CBS’ 34D Lara flaunts what Katie Couric cannot
That Lara Logan is the kind of "chief foreign correspondent" we like. She’s got a Marvel Comics name, an exotic accent and doesn’t have a mug like Christina Amanpour. And now the sexy CBS newsgal, star of the Katie Couric evening news show, and former bikini model known in the British tabs as "34D Lara," is making news for landing an exclusive interview with Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf for tonight’s 60 Minutes.
Lara has worked hard to pretend to try to escape the sex kitten image and her swimsuit modelling past, so it’s ver-r-r-r-ry interesting that in a nod to all the perv-ez among her fanbase, she and the CBS publicity machine included in the latest "how I got that scoop" story that Lara was "vacationing on a beach near her South African hometown when she received a message on her BlackBerry telling her of the (Bhutto) attack in Rawalpindi," and that when she arrived in Pakistan for the major news coup, "her suitcase with bikinis and other beachwear made it to Islamabad; the suitcase with the rest of her clothes did not."
Sorry. Did you miss that?
and other beachwear
made it to Islamabad."
Now, that’s Tabloid 101! And that’s a shot across the bow. Who needs a Burberry when you travel on assignment with a suitcase full of bikinis? And, as we’ve been advising in our free consultation to CBS News since the days Katie Couric (left) was first being considered for the Evening News gig, who needs Katie when you’ve got a real, fearless, experienced globetrotting 21st century superstar sexpot reporter with such a great future behind her?
Found! The 34D Lara Logan swimsuit photos
After a long search, the Tabloid Baby staff has dug up some of the photos that explain why every story written about CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan includes a description of her as a "former swimsuit model"– and, most important, why the globe trotting sex symbol is known in the British tabloids as "34D Lara."
These photos were supposedly taken during her days as "student and part-time model," and though her superiors and colleagues take pains to remind us that the 36-year-old South African is a courageous, experienced and knowledgeable journalist, it should pointed out that the photos were first mentioned slyly by Lara herself during an interview when her career was still in a need of traction on the uphill climb, and that despite any objections on the grounds of sexism, the "swimsuit issue" is actually kept alive by CBS Nes publicists and again, Lara herself, as it was in yesterday’s publicity blitz publicity blitz, that pointed out that when she arrived in Pakistan over the weekend for an exclusive interview with president Pervez Musharraf, "her suitcase with bikinis and other beachwear made it to Islamabad; the suitcase with the rest of her clothes did not."
