Campbell Brown's Legs could have been CNN's Ratings Cure

Campbell Brown on NBC's Saturday Today Show 

Sadly, Campbell Brown, who CNN fought to pull away from NBC two years ago, quit her show due to low and dropping ratings.

Campbell Brown, or "Cammy" as my friend and hers Michael Dowling likes to call her, was consider a catch for CNN at the time.

But, as I blogged in 2008, CNN wasn't using Brown's real asset and it's something Fox News would have done and NBC did do. Campbell Brown's legs would have been the best CNN ratings cure.

This is a problem that started back in 2008, with CNN getting clobbered by Fox News in the ratings even then, and that was the 2008 election. This is what I wrote at Zennie62, then:

As it stands, CNN's getting clobbered by Fox News in the ratings, except for when CNN has debates and it's Super Tuesday coverage, but other than that, it's Fox all the way. ...Now, I personally don't like CNN's biased reporting, covered by the "idea" that they're the best political reporting team and all that crap, but if Dave Bohrman and the rest of the CNN producers get their act together they're on to something.

I think a good place to start is with Campbell Brown....

I mean have you seen her legs?

Some readers got angry with my assertion at the time, but I pressed the point.  Fox News was getting away with that strategy, mixing sexy female anchors with an edgy, opinionated take on the news.   CNN resisted my claim, and also failed to emphasize the iReport format, but that's another blog post.

Now CNN's ratings slide is worse and Campbell Brown's gone.

Is it sad that Campbell Brown's legs may have saved her show? Yeah, it is. But the bottom line in television is viewers, time, and money. The key to success is to make people stop and watch for whatever reason. High-minded views on news and society are fine if they work; in this case they don't. CNN has to give people something to talk about: Men to look at and women to criticize. That's the game and CNN's not playing it.

CNN's under the impression it has to be conservative like Fox News. Not so. That's got nothing to do with it. Sex sells and people are animals. Period. The main driver of the reproductive process is attraction; it's silly to watch some try to take that fact out of society. No one ever wins by fighting nature. CNN should stop trying.

But hey, I made this case two years ago and CNN didn't get it then. Now, Campbell Brown's gone.