On this, Katie’s Last Day!, Ms. Couric is receiving shout-outs from all over the ‘sphere — some syrupy, some surly, and several served with a soupcon of journo-scolding.
Nebraska-based Sarah at My Freaking Blog confesses that “it hurts my heart that [Couric’s] leaving! Sigh!!” — and reinforces her melancholy mood with a frowning emoticon (“mood: cranky”).
Mike weighs in thusly from Malta: “After waking up with Katie Couric for the past 15 years, I dedicate this blog to her moving on and thanking her for making me, literally, a morning person. Every morning since about the 1st grade or so I’ve been watching the Today Show. Seeing her sign off today brought some tears to my eye, literally, even though I don’t know her personally…”
Tears are also flowing in Norfolk, Virginia, where Helena Handbasket wonders, “Who else was crying this morning during Katie Couric’s last day on the Today Show? I know I was. What really sealed the deal was when they showed the boy who had lost his sister in the Columbine shooting and had seen his friend get shot and then held hands with his friend’s dad during the interview. Geez! Do they know how to tug at our heart strings or what?”
And then there’s Jeremy, a South Carolinian, who has had “enough already!!! current mood: annoyed” (as evidenced by the grimacing emoticon). Blogs Jeremy: “Being in radio you are sometimes forced to watch supposedly pop-culturally relevant events that make you want to vomit. I am experiencing that as I watch Katie Couric say good-bye. SHE’S LEAVING TO GO TO A RIVAL NETWORK!!!! SHE’S NOT DYING!!!! I honestly think this is the most gosh-awful television I have ever watched… Watching this junk makes me sick.” Jeremy concludes by quoting Motley Crüe: “Girl don’t go away mad, girl just go away!”
Also irritated? Ashley from Indiana who blasts NBC for “spend[ing] two hours wishing Katie Couric farewell,” contending that it “proves my long-standing theory that the news is a joke.” Ashley elaborates: “I mean, think about it. If they can give up two entire hours to play special montages and have the cast from Jersey Boys sing altered songs to [Couric] concerning how much everyone is going to miss her … that must mean that they could do it pretty much any other day, despite all the ‘breaking news’ that is developing around the world.”
At Boojit, Boojit Bejeesus calls the Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Hip, Now and Worthless,” posting an email he sent to the paper’s ombudsman complaining that “as of 7:30AM on May 31, the #3 story on the Star-Tribune‘s lead web page is: ‘Couric makes today her last on Today.'” Boojit’s reaction? “You have got to be kidding me. Seriously, you should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re supposed to be a relevant, serious, actual news outlet. Did you forget that? Imagine the New York Times putting this filler on their front page.” (Imagine, indeed!) Boojit concludes by calling the Strib “a crummier version of USA Today” and begging the paper to “please stop sucking.”
And finally, Carl at Simply Left Behind asks, “Where Have You Gone, Katie Couric?” and then answers himself –“Katie Couric disappeared years ago, folks.” The Couric that Carl “want[s] to remember” is the newswoman who grilled Sen. Bob Dole back in 1996 about his suggestion that smoking might not be any more dangerous than drinking alcohol or milk. Laments Carl: “That Katie Couric disappeared, probably with Lacy Peterson, certainly with Natalee Holloway. Maybe moving to CBS, she’ll regrow some stones, but given CBS’s corporate ‘destoning’ policy handed down from Sumner Redstone, I wouldn’t bet on it.”
In sum: So long, Couric! Know that your work at NBC has inspired at least one Maltese, a Motley Crüe quotation, and a discussion of CBS’s supposed corporate castration policy. Only in the blogosphere, baby! Only in the blogosphere.
Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.