Les Moonves Also Pursued Meredith Vieira ...



"Better to rule at the CBS Corporation than to be a slave at Viacom/" (image via ejeanlive)

Always have a fallback. That's the pimp move, right there. (The Corsair sparks a Cohiba Robusto) We wouldn't expect anything less from CBS' Dark Overlord,the publicty-happy CEO, Les Moonves, whose presence is always signalled by the sound of cloven hooves scraping against the floors at Black Rock, and the disturbing echoes of moist his bat-wings flexing in the silvery night. (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment)

Apparently (Averted Gaze), even as The Desolate One was courting Katie he was, behind the scenes, pitching woo to Merideth Vieira. In Newsweek's "The Katie Factor":

"NEWSWEEK has learned that CBS CEO Les Moonves was so intent on blowing up the traditional network-news model that he also pursued Couric's 'Today' successor, Meredith Vieira, in case Couric balked. CBS is happy with the outcome, a spokesman said. 'Clearly, we think it is time for a new kind of news,' says a CBS executive who didn't want to be identified to avoid provoking NBC while Couric is still on 'Today.' 'I don't think evening news is dead. When you put people in like Katie, there is potential to grow. This is the first woman anchor. That might mean something.'"

That would have been quite interesting considering how Vieira left CBS News' "60 Minutes." Remember that? Old school bastards Don Hewitt and Mike "The Meatloaf" Wallace made Vieira's life quite living hell after she had the temerity to get pregnant before it was too late. Imagine Vieira as anchor, in full-glory, brushing shoulders with Hewitt and Wallace at CBS News. Granted, those two old farts are history at Black Rock, but we wonder "What If .."

And Newseek is not the only magazine to weigh in on The Prince of Darkness, seated the the Left Hand of Sumner Redstone. Hell, no (No pun intended). Businessweek writes:

"Moonves is being especially aggressive. The conventional wisdom is that he got the worst of the deal when Viacom CEO and controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone decided to split the company into two parts (New Viacom CEO Tom Freston certainly seems to feel that way).

"Even so, Moonves is determined to dispel the notion that CBS is the new Viacom's uncool stepsister. His strategy is to turn CBS from a broadcasting company into a 'content provider' that sells hit programs like Survivor through a variety of old- and new-media distribution channels.

"... Investors have reason to be wary. Outside of the pornography industry, nobody's making much money selling conventional content on the Internet yet.

"... Moonves has been in tough situations before and prevailed. His rivals scoffed when he set out to resurrect the moribund CBS network. The world, however, was simpler back then."

The Katie Factor (Newsweek)