Katie Couric: Talk Show Will Include 'Humanity and Intelligence'
Katie Couric has opened up about her goals and plans for her new daytime talk show on Thursday.
"Katie" will be a lifestyle program directed mostly toward women, and Couric said she hopes to bring "humanity and intelligence" as she is anticipating working with a live studio audience.
Referring to herself as a "natural both extrovert," Couric explained to reporters and critics in Beverly Hills that she was anticipating challenges with her new show, "Katie."
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The 55-year-old former NBC "Today Show" host noted that she would have to re-establish the softer side she displayed for 15 years with NBC, and noted her former position with CBS.
"Obviously there is a need to re-familiarize myself and who I am in terms of being a natural, spontaneous, interactive and a more casual, less formal journalist," Couric told Reuters. "When I did the 'CBS Evening News' I didn't have that opportunity to show both sides of myself."
Couric's daytime television show will launch on Sept. 10: the same day, three other personalities- Ricki Lake, Jeff Probst, and Steve Harvey- launch their talk shows. The fresh crop of talk shows is the result of Oprah Winfrey's departure from daytime television.
Despite the competition, Couric maintained that she could not have started her daytime television career any earlier.
"I couldn't really do it earlier because I was doing 'CBS Evening News' until May last year," said the journalist. "I am happy to have a year grace period. With Oprah exiting the stage, it was okay for me to give some time for the landscape to settle before jumping into the fray. So I feel the timing worked really well for me."
"Katie" will see topics such as aging and caring for older parents as well as issues surrounding technology's affects on youth and dating at an older age. Plus, the new show will highlight the lives of ordinary people and not just the rich and famous.
In addition to her new show, Couric revealed even more ambitious goals for her future. Once known as "America's sweetheart" while on "Today" in the 1990s, the journalist showed off her light-hearted, perky personality once more.
"I would like to star in a Broadway musical, but I don't think that's gonna happen," Couric joked. "Because when I auditioned for my high school musical they cast me as a deaf mute!"
"And I would like to go out with George Clooney, if we can arrange that," she also joked.
