Embarrassment for embattled CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil as ratings SURGE while hunky stand-in covers his vacation
Ratings-challenged CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil was beaten by his own stand-in last week, data has shown.
The perpetually last-place show marked its most-watched month since March with former ABC star Matt Gutman at the helm while the host is on vacation.
The development was first reported by Status. The Daily Mail obtained the corresponding Nielsen ratings data for the week of July 27.
Dokoupil, 45, scored his worst ratings-month since January, his first on the job.
Gutman, 48, promptly managed 4.1 million viewers – 300,000 more than Dokoupil’s average for July.
The development puts pressure on Dokoupil, who has not passed the four million marker since March.
A veteran executive from a different network told the Daily Mail they found it strange that Dokoupil, who is away for two weeks, would leave his post for so long. The summer is typically when struggling shows try to pick up ground, the source said.
‘Everyone is entitled to a vacation, but when you are trying to build an audience and fighting to right a failing ship, taking a two-weeker is a head-scratcher.
CBS Evening News star Tony Dokoupil, 45, scored his worst ratings since January, his first on the job, last month. He is currently on a two-week vacation
Stand-in host Matt Gutman, 48, pulled in 4.1 million viewers last week – the most the show has had since March
‘Makes you wonder if Dokoupil has given up.’
‘Never seen this before,’ another executive who spoke to Status said, branding the move as ‘another dagger in Tony’s neck’ and ‘baffling.’
They also flagged it a ‘missed opportunity’ for the anchor to have gained ground on David Muir, who anchors ABC’s first-place World News Tonight and is also on vacation.
‘And his substitute outclassed him in the ratings,’ the executive added.
A CBS News insider pushed back, however, telling the Daily Mail that ‘the week of 7/27 just generated more news.’
Evening News is in the midst of a massive overhaul masterminded by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Weiss, 42, brought on Dokoupil from CBS Mornings, following a disastrous dual-anchor experiment by her predecessors last year that sent more than 1.2 million viewers astray.
At the time, the show was still comfortably averaging four million viewers. Sources told Status that the number has long been viewed within CBS News as the minimum acceptable figure. Under Dokoupil, it has turned into an achievement.
Weiss was hired as editor-in-chief in October, at the behest of then-new Paramount chief executive David Ellison. Ellison, at the time, articulated a vision of CBS News reaching more people across the country and moving into the digital age.
Longtime CBS Mornings host Dokoupil was elevated to CBS Evening News in December
Gutman, the network’s chief correspondent, was brought on at the same time after several years with ABC News
Gutman, the network’s chief correspondent, was one of Weiss’s first hires. His former bosses at ABC actually let her take him off their hands, a source told the Daily Mail at the time.
Insiders told Status last month that they believed Weiss’s moves since taking the reins have irrevocably damaged the CBS brand.
One CBS News staffer told the publication: ‘The problem is clearly Bari. We are all trying to clean this up, but we need Ellison’s help.’
The Daily Mail approached CBS News for comment.
