The daytime talk show circuit is about a get very bloated, very fast, so given that Anderson Cooper’s talk show struggled to find viewers before that happened indicated that things needed to change in a hurry. Perhaps that is why today’s news that the daytime talker will be changing its format did not come as too big a shocker.
People know the show’s on, but they perceive it more so as a call-back to the genre from the 80′s and early 90′s. Without directly acknowledging this, the series’ producer did indicate that the current format was not playing to the CNN anchor’s strengths which reside in the realm of ‘immediacy’–something that viewers demand when it comes to such offerings nowadays. That said, the show is going live and it will have guest interviews to boot which so many newcomers (Katie Couric and Jeff Probst) flat out refuse to do.
Here is a little video featurette released today to win viewers over for the revamped Anderson show premiering in September. Previously announced guests include Richard Gere, Mindy Kaling, and Stephen Colbert.