Anderson Cooper 360°

"Larry King Live" can't hold a candle to "Anderson Cooper 360". Cooper's 10:00pm offering was also surpassing Lou Dobbs who recently resigned from the network. While the color tone of Larry King's hour keeps getting lighter and lighter (I think he interviewed Michael Jackson's family and friends during the entire month after Jackson's passing), Cooper's hour is a breath of fresh prime-time air, a return to hard journalism after an hour of the trivial and the banal. Cooper started out some years ago as the new pretty boy on the CNN block, a kind of news star for teenyboppers and twenty-somethings. But I think after having rubbed shoulders with the likes of Wolf Blitzer and many other heavy-hitters of journalism, both Cooper and his colleague John King are forging careers more and more reminiscent of Mike Wallace and David Frost rather than light-weights like Larry King and Matt Lauer. If you don't agree, consider that Cooper has even done assignments for "60 Minutes".

One of the strongest aspects of Cooper's show is the inclusion of David Gergen and Jeffrey Toobin as political commentators. Gergen may be the finest political commentator on the television airwaves, with Mark Shields and David Brooks of PBS right behind. (In fact, Gergen had been paired with Mark Shields at PBS before he had been asked to help at the Clinton White House in the early 1990's.) Gergen has an amazing insight into the psychology of the American political landscape that is just simply unmatched outside of print journalism. So you have to credit Anderson Cooper playing the same role as Jim Lehrer does on Fridays on PBS, asking probing questions to get to the meat of all matters political concerning current issues. While Gergen is certainly Cooper's cleanup hitter, Jeffrey Toobin and some of the other commentators also rank as top-notch journalist-commentators, particularly Carl Bernstein and Ed Rollins. (Although in an amusing moment, Toobin was caught watching a Boston Red Sox game on his laptop the night of the 2008 presidential elections! I don't think CNN was paying him to watch baseball.)

Anderson Cooper's stories are insightful, relevant, and he is not afraid to engage in field reporting which is where he started. Occasionally, he'll be on assignment in Afghanstan or Iran, plowing through the mud of the human experience to get the real story. That's real journalism, pure and simple, not just pontificating opinions at a studio desk with a microphone. (Anybody with half a brain and studio backing can do that.) Cooper engages both conservative and liberal commentators. I disagree strongly with some of the assessments made here that 360 leans left. David Gergen served republican presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan, although he is declared as an independent. Ed Rollins, who is just about as conservative as they come, is a regular commentator-contributor. (Although if your idea of conservative is Bill O'Reilly, I have nothing further to say on the point.) Cooper has done well to balance on the center divide of issues allowing both sides of the political spectrum equal time. Whether this will eventually land Cooper a position as a television news anchor is hard to tell, but I don't think that's where his strength lies. Cooper is showing his meat as a relevant hard-nosed reporter striving to use journalism for what it was meant to do: inform to make a difference, not just entertain. How can the public possibly make informed decisions and evaluations about its leaders if it is not informed?

I used to love Anderson Cooper and his 360 show. But the election coverage has brought out the worst in him. He's getting as bad as Nancy Grace, arguing with guests, talking over people he disagrees with, etc. He is transparently a Hillary fan which is his prerogative. But, he should be reporting the news, not trying to make the news by trying to shove his opinions down people's throats.

I certainly hope he returns to the Anderson that I've always loved after this miserable election is over.

I just read that his daytime show is being canceled. I hope they do not cancel the "360" show. He's usually a very talented host. I think he has let this election change him into an opinionated ogre!!

Anderson may be a great person. But a television speaker he is not. Every evening there is something he says that I cannot understand. He rushes the words together and mumbles. I cringe when I hear he is about to do an interview. It seems he may not prepare questions in advance, or he veers away from any he has prepared. He seldom states a complete, succinct sentence. His questions have a lingering, distant quality that are difinitive. He certainly looks the part, however, the performance is what is lacking. I see why they have cut his show down from two hours. It is a shame that through the weekday evening there is not a concise, varied real news show on CNN....not opinion. Yes....on CNN Mr. Mumbles he is. But I heard him on 60 Minutes the other night and WOW....he was clear and his annunciation was ok. I had to do a double take to see if that was him.

Bottom line: he just needs to work harder at CNN. Prepare more, be more sussinct and clear...."channel Walter Cronkite ", don't giggle, amnunciate.

This show constantly tries to create hate against the POTUS. This show is biased and unfortunately radically left.

Anderson Cooper 360 is a decent show but not a great one. When its at its best, its does an insightful and entertaining take on the news. Kind of like a "Behind the scenes" look at the news; showing why, how, and where it happened they way it did. At its worst, it painfully showcases Anderson Cooper seemingly amateur anchor skills. Don't get me wrong, Cooper is an excellent field reporter and a more than capable journalist. But put him in a studio and drape him in a nice suit, he loses his "it" factor.

He's young and ambitious. So, I have little doubt that he will find his anchoring voice evidently. He's far more than just a pretty face. If anything, I see Anderson Cooper 360 as less of a show but more of a training ground for Cooper to fine tune himself to an excellent anchorman.Its far more entertaining to watch if you view it in this matter.It makes his occasional goofs, mistakes, and misses more endearing than annoying and when he gets it right, you could easily picture him as a future network news star. For that reason alone, he's show is worth watching occasionally but certainly not a must see every single day. Unless, you think Anderson is just that good-looking.