Katie Couric’s interview on Thursday with Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o provided a 30-percent spike in ratings for “Katie,” according to preliminary numbers.
The interview earned “Katie” a 2.6 rating, up from its 2.0 average over the previous four weeks.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Thursday’s “Katie” was the top-viewed program in its time slot in the nation’s top four markets, which include New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Chicago.
The controversy Te’o finds himself embroiled in involves an allegedly elaborate Internet hoax in which the gridiron star believed his girlfriend—whom he had never met in person and believed had died from leukemia—did not exist.
Couric asked Te’o why he concealed the truth even after he discovered the girlfriend did not exist, to which he replied that he was afraid
Thursday’s interview was the first Te’o has done since the Internet hoax scandal broke, but he did an off-camera interview with ESPN previously.
Personal Take
First on the list of questions should be: Why did Couric get this interview?
Te’o is a high-profile sports figure that should have spoken on camera with a sports journalist.
ESPN’s Jeremy Schaap got to sit with Te’o and record the linebacker’s comments for more than two hours, but why wasn’t he granted an on-camera interview?
Don’t like ESPN? Then how about Jim Rome? Bob Costas? Or any other of the many sports journalists who are better suited to talk sports than Couric?
So many questions, so few answers.
This whole Te’o situation has pulled back the covers on a generation of people who seem to have lost sight of what’s real and what isn’t. The line of demarcation between what’s “real” and not real seems to be lost on a generation of young adults that would rather communicate via text messages and social media than face-to-face.
During the “Katie” interview, Te’o played audio from who he thought was his girlfriend. In the message, the supposed female—whom it is believed may have actually been a male—told Te’o that she loved him.
Interesting.
How can you love, Mr. Te’o, if you’ve never met her in person?
That’s a can of worms for another article.
To add to the whole sordid mess, Couric actually questioned Te’o’s sexuality, asking him if he was gay.
“No, far from it, far from it,” was his reply, as if it was anybody’s business!
This observer is ready for this scandal to work its course and be done with.
In the end, Te’o is, no matter what, set to make a boatload of cash from an NFL team. The affair may slightly affect his draft status in the upcoming NFL draft, but not enough to prevent him from becoming a high-profile pro.
As for you, Ms. Couric, many of us expected more from you.
Comments