UNACCOUNTABLY, ANDERSON COOPER’S STAR CONTINUES TO RISE

Despite plunging ratings for his CNN show, AC 360 and criticism that when it’s not covering disasters, it’s focusing mostly on sensational tabloid topics, Anderson Cooper remains the fair-haired boy of broadcast and cable news. The latest evidence is a report that Warner Bros. Television, a corporate sibling of CNN, has signed a deal with Cooper to host a daily syndicated afternoon talk show. Besides celebrity interviews and “water-cooler topics,” the show will also feature hidden-camera investigations dealing with “relevant issues and social trends affecting women’s lives.” It was not clear whether the producers planned to repurpose Cooper’s CNN features. Media writers said that the distributors would try to sell the show as a replacement for Oprah Winfrey’s when she moves on to her OWN channel at the end of the season.