Katie Couric
Rumors are spreading that Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News may soon part ways, but America's Sweetheart won’t be twiddling her thumbs for long. Portfolio.com has a few fallback careers for the anchor.
K Street Crawler
Last April, material from a Wall Street Journal article showed up in Katie Couric’s Notebook, a video podcast on CBS’s website. The producer responsible was fired, but Couric could redeem herself by pounding the pavement for better copyright laws. Alternatively, she could lobby for loosening them, so her producers don’t get tangled up in those sticky “plagiarism” issues again.
Reality Renovator
One of Couric’s rumored first moves at CBS was demanding that the rundown women’s bathroom be renovated. And on an infamous Today show segment, she forced a Parisian designer to decorate three dinner tables for $50. What better way to channel those creative, budget-conscious urges than by producing Trading Spaces, the reality show where controlling contestants redecorate a room in one another’s homes?
Conan Undercover
Five years ago, Couric and Jay Leno traded hosting gigs: She gave a joke-filled monologue on The Tonight Show while he interviewed Colin Powell from the set of Today. With Leno on his way out next year, Couric could crop her hair, dye it red, and take over for his replacement, Conan O’Brien.
The Next Nemo
In 2004, Couric appeared in the movie Shark Tale, voicing a long-lashed news anchor fish by the name of Katie Current. With her newfound free time, Couric could expand from cartoon fish into other roles: SpongeBob SquarePants? Scooby-Doo? Homer Simpson?
Self-Help Writer for Tots
Having penned kids’ titles including The Blue Ribbon Day and The Brand New Kid, Couric’s next move could be an autobiographical children’s series. First title: Katie Gets a Job.
Queen of Pep
Nightly news wasn’t her thing, but Couric could go back to her roots—as a pom-pom shaker at Yorktown High School, in Arlington, Virginia. Hosting the National All Star Cheerleading Championship, an annual cheering competition, broadcast on ESPN, puts her in the public eye one night a year. And she won't have to hide that megawatt smile.
Katie Couric
NBC brass hauled Kathie Lee Gifford in to co-host the fourth hour of the Today show this week. But a return by Couric could be even better for the ratings-weak hour: She first made a national name for herself—flying through the air dressed as Peter Pan, for example—at Today. If that doesn’t float, she could always reprise the role in a Broadway revival.
