Despite never only averaging a 1.4 average in the ratings early on, Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show Anderson was renewed for a second season pretty early in its run, also earning added syndication shares in new Fox markets across the country. At the time, this seemed to indicate Warner Bros. Domestic TV was pretty confident in Cooper’s performance, but now some major changes in the format of Anderson are undermining the early renewal a little bit.
Anderson was renewed all the way back in November, giving producers nearly 8 months to figure out how to make the sophomore run of the show better. The first big shakeup they’ve decided on is a name change. According to The Chicago Tribune, Anderson has officially been rechristened Anderson Live!, which—you guessed it—means the show will also be moved into a live format.
Live TV can be a whole lot of fun, and giving the show a whole new outlook and name will hopefully push a few TV viewers to turn to Cooper’s talk show in the mornings. As part of the new format, Cooper will also begin hosting Anderson Live! with a set of changing co-hosts that will hopefully add a little humor to the program. However, executive producer Terrence Noonan is also hoping the live format will encourage Cooper to deal with more updated and groundbreaking news stories.
“We’re looking to build a show that plays into Anderson’s strengths. We want the show to be more topical, so we are going to go live four days a week. It’s going to be breaking news, trends, and bringing viewers the biggest celebrities and newsmakers.”
Cooper is generally pretty good at mixing light news and hard news and I really hope he garners a bigger daytime audience during his sophomore run. We will find out when Anderson Live! airs on Monday, September 10.
