Ted Koppel: No Surprises Here

ABC has been trying to unload Koppel and Nightline for some time (remember the disastrous Letterman gaffe?). This is only noteworthy because Nightline is one of the few places where you get more than just talking heads yelling at one another.

While it's not my absolute favorite of "more than a sound byte" shows, I've respected it for a very long time.

Stephanapoulous doesn't have the ability to dissect things the way Koppel does, so I've been sorry to see George on Nightline more and more.

But we've seen just from Donahue's short-time on MSNBC that even when a station gets the ratings, they kill a show that presents more than little bytes.