New York:
This year, Anderson Cooper spent 10 days in Japan covering the aftermath of the devastating earthquake; he spent nine days in Egypt and was roughed up by supporters of Hosni Mubarak during the uprising there.
This week, he will spend an hour talking to Snooki about her tan.
That will not be on CNN, of course, home of his nightly hard news program, "Anderson Cooper 360." Instead, it will be on local television stations across the country, where Mr. Cooper will begin his moonlighting job on Monday as host of a syndicated daytime talk hour, "Anderson."
Beyond Snooki, Mr. Cooper's first-week line-up includes an interview with Sarah Jessica Parker about her new movie, a chat with the cast of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" in the wake of the suicide of one of the husbands, and, in his opening episode on Monday, an interview with the family of the recently deceased pop singer Amy Winehouse.
'Anderson' premiere: Winehouse family claims drugs did not cause deathThese topics are not likely to be addressed on his CNN program, and that is one of the reasons Mr. Cooper wanted to expand into daytime talk. "Everybody has different sides to them," he said in an interview by phone. "I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to work different jobs that show different sides of you."
Some traditionalists may see a risk for Mr. Cooper's news reputation in diverting himself into the more superficial fields of daytime talk. Judy Muller, who spent much of her career as a news correspondent for ABC News, and now is an associate professor of journalism at the University of Southern California, said that assessment might be expected from "an old-school reporter like me."
Ms. Muller's view, though, is more nuanced. "There is no doubt that Anderson Cooper has established his serious credentials. That said, there is always a risk when you move into more light-hearted venues of the likes of Snooki."
But Mr. Cooper, she said, "is a different kind of journalist, one for the future. He is transparently who he is."
Mr. Cooper is introducing his daytime side - he said he has been a long-time viewer of the genre - in the first week of the post-Oprah era. He enters as one of the great hopes to inherit the audience Ms. Winfrey leaves behind.
"We have high expectations," said Hilary Estey McLoughlin, the president of Telepictures, the syndicator of Mr. Cooper's foray into daytime talk. She said that the show can be seen by 99 per cent of country. (In New York it will be seen on WPIX.)
Only about eight of the stations will be ones where Ms. Winfrey's show used to reside, a total dwarfed by the "Dr. Oz" show, which grabbed 80 of those slots. Still, Ms. McLoughlin highlighted Mr. Cooper's appeal as a lead-in show to local news.
That afternoon position is hotly pursued by many daytime talk show contenders. Mr. Cooper said his show would be evenly divided between openings in the morning and the afternoon. But syndicated shows that succeed often start out in the mornings and gravitate to the afternoons.
The financial riches that Ms. Winfrey reached during her long syndicated run may be impossible to attain, because syndicated shows face the same ratings erosion that afflicts broadcast entertainment programs. Daytime talk shows, however, still have the capability to reach three million to four million viewers a day and remain, in the words of Michael Nathanson, the United States media analyst for Nomura, "a significant moneymaker."
Mr. Nathanson said the costs for daytime talk shows remained so low - many at less than $1 million a week (Mr. Nathanson estimated the first year costs for "Anderson" at $25 million to $28 million) - that anything resembling a hit could generate tens of millions in revenue or more a year. Hosts often become quite wealthy, though that, Mr. Nathanson said, may be less an incentive for Mr. Cooper, a descendant of the Vanderbilt family.
Mr. Cooper's deal with CNN pays him about $10 million a year. He has an undisclosed ownership interest in the talk show, one that could pay him far more if it becomes a long-running success.
Mr. Cooper said he had been approached on several occasions to make the jump into daytime talk, based on his exposure on CNN and his many appearances on daytime shows, including filling in for Regis Philbin. Ms. McLoughlin said she had singled out Mr. Cooper as a potential daytime star for years, citing his profile as a gossip-page celebrity. "He gets media attention pretty much for breathing," she said.
Only when his CNN contract was coming to an end two years ago did the prospect of a syndicated show get serious, Mr. Cooper said. "I didn't want to give up news," he said, noting that beyond his CNN role, he worked as a part-time correspondent for CBS's "60 Minutes."
What made this syndicated deal work was the shared parentage of CNN and Telepictures, which is the syndication arm of Warner Brothers television and, like CNN, a division of Time Warner. Ken Jautz, the head of domestic operations at CNN, said the only reason Mr. Cooper was able to do both jobs was because "we made it logistically easy."
That relates to the proximity of the two staffs of the programs, and the studios Mr. Cooper will work in. Everything is within walking distance in the Time Warner Center in Manhattan.
Mr. Jautz said CNN would "absolutely continue to send Anderson" to the sites of breaking news, which necessitates some planning in case he is away from the syndicated shows for protracted periods. Mr. Cooper said he would tape five or six syndicated shows a week, to build up a bank that could be used when he was away on assignment.
If a news event presents the opportunity, he may tape a talk show on location, or, more often, a live introduction to a taped show to bring it up to date. "We all want the same thing," Mr. Cooper said. "I'm never going to do anything that is detrimental to CNN."
Mr. Jautz argued the opposite was more likely. "This will put Anderson in front of a different audience," he said. "That's good for Anderson and CNN."
Could the CNN show be used to promote the talk show and vice versa? "That will be situational," Mr. Jautz said.
As for the topics for the daytime show, Mr. Cooper said he was open to most anything, though not the classic paternity test episodes. "That's pretty well covered so it's not a niche I need to fill," he said.
Asked if his talk show qualified as journalism, Mr. Cooper was momentarily flummoxed.
"Hmmm," he said after a long pause. "It can be a form of reporting on subjects that are generally more emotional," he said. "Is it journalism like covering the geopolitical ramifications of stories? No, it's not. But it is storytelling that does resonate with people's lives."