Are more CBS Evening News producers about to get canned without Katie Couric's express knowledge? Today's Rush & Molloy reminds us that former former exec producer Rome Hartman got the axe in favor of veteran Rick Kaplan, and suggests that Hartman's "No. 2" guy might be next in line for the guillotine.**
Kaplan, who ran Peter Jennings' "World News Tonight," Ted Koppel's "Nightline," and "Primetime Live," is expected to swing the machete soon, and Hartman's No. 2, Paul Friedman, is vulnerable, sources say.
"Kaplan has already been butting heads with [Paul]," one source reveals.
Rush & Molloy then goes onto reveal that Kaplan may cut Steve Friedman, exec producer of CBS This Morning, because "[he] clashed with Couric at the Today show." But, for us, the highlight of the item is definitely the part where the nonexistent comments from the unreachable CBS spokesperson are made to sound strangely ominous:
The CBS News spokeswoman did not respond to specific questions left on her voicemail.
Seriously, what kind of person doesn't respond to specific questions left on her voicemail? Talk about sketchy! This sort of thing would never have happened under Walter Cronkite…
**Insert obligatory "who does No. 2 work for?" joke *here*
Editorial Director
Kaplan is a bully who will get his way. When the ratings at CBS tank… he'll blame Katie and America! Operation Tailwind showed his true colors at CNN. "Where's Rick" was shouted after his fiasco… nowhere to be seen! A gutless draft dodger from the sixties-seventies roosting at CBS! Pathetic.
^^Jon Klein using yet another screen name.
It's nice to see your bitter and hold a grudge Jon, but then again so do I and payback so far has been a bitch hasn't it?
Notice how Klein only mentions his stints at CNN and CBS, not MSNBC. Did Kaplan fire you from CBS? Probably for good reason, like your mental illness, your 2 face antics or because you're an asshole.
The only pathetic person is you honey.