Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin once again ringing in the New Year on CNNi

Anderson Cooper, host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 (Tuesday to Saturday morning at 3am), and comedienne, Kathy Griffin, will once again ring in the new year in the US's Eastern Time Zone, live from Time Square.

Last year the show ran for the longest time in its history, kicking off at 9pm (US Eastern Time) and averaged just over 2 million viewers. Back then, they joked on air as they had no idea how they would fill all the extra time. Well these jokes were not heard by CNN's higher ups as the show will now start yet another hour earlier at 8pm US Eastern Time and run to 12:30am New Years Day (That is, 3am South African Time on Friday morning to 7:30am). The major US New Year's Eve Show, Dick Clarke's New Years Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest (that is the actual long name), also starts at 8pm US Time, but the difference is they are stacking the show with 38 musical performances whilst Cooper and Griffin will have none.

I doubt filling the time for these two is that hard though. They are real life friends and that chemistry shines through the broadcast, especially Cooper's reaction to Griffin's often too edgy jokes. The big joke last year was when Griffin dyed Cooper's hair on air without him knowing.

They will not be alone, however. Richard Quest will provide coverage from inside the crowd in Time Square, whilst Poppy Harlow will be all the way in Rio. Randi Kaye will provide coverage from Memphis and Gary Tuchman in Hershey, Pa.

Cooper and Griffin sign off from their marathon broadcast at 12:30am (7:30am here in SA) when Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon (host of CNN Tonight, Tuesday through Saturday morning at 4am) will take over the broadcast from New Orleans to usher in the New Year in the US's Central Time Zone.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour and Anderson Cooper Question Boss Over Refusal To Show Cover of Charlie Hebdo

Christiane Amanpour, CNN's Chief International Correspondent and host of the daily Amanpour (9pm CAT) as well as "Golden Boy" Anderson Cooper, who hosts Anderson Cooper 360 (3am CAT) both questioned CNN Worldwide President, Jeff Zucker, on the network's refusal to show the cover of the French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo.

They questioned Zucker infront of all CNN's staff internationally at the organisation's annual town hall special that is broadcast to all its bureaus.

Politico has more:
CNN's Christiane Amanpour questioned network president Jeff Zucker in front of CNN's global staff on Wednesday over his decision not to air images of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, sources at the network told POLITICO.

In a "town hall" simulcast to CNN bureaus worldwide, the chief international correspondent informed her boss that the Quran does not prohibit showing images of Mohammed and questioned the network's refusal to show the most recent Charlie Hebdo magazine cover on the grounds that it might offend Muslims. Despite conventional wisdom, many Islamic scholars say that the Quran does not explicitly prohibit images of the prophet Mohammed. The view that such depictions should be prohibited is one that has evolved over time in certain strands of the religion. (More on all that here, here and here.)

In response to an earlier question about the depiction of Mohammed, from Anderson Cooper, Zucker had cited staff safety as a key reason for not showing the cartoons. On air, however, CNN has attributed the decision to a network policy "not to show potentially offensive images of the prophet."
Unfortunately for our readers, Zucker's response to Amanpour was unmemorable, several sources said. "Basically he had no response," said one staffer. CNN declined to comment for this piece. We've invited Zucker to respond to Amanpour's point about the Quran, and will update if and when we hear back.

You can read the rest of the article, which includes the rest of what was said at the townhall here.

How CNNUS's Documentaries now affect CNNI

(c) CNNI

Earlier today CNNUS had their annual up fronts where they 'sell' existing and new shows to potential advertisers. At it, they announced that their 9pm Hour (Piers Morgan's old slot) will be filled with documentaries and announced the return of CNN Tonight, one of their older news bulletins, at 10pm.

Both of these directly affect the schedule of CNNI.

Firstly, the 9pm show has traditionally been simulcast on CNNI since the days of Larry King following a live edition of Anderson Cooper 360. As some of these shows will not convey well with CNNI's schedule or audience. Yes it may be 9pm in the US and 3am here in South Africa, but it will be the middle of the morning in Asia, where it obviously wouldn't be a good idea to show those shows (which you can read about in the post below this). The international audience also might not resonate well with some shows like Chicagoland and thus I doubt any of these shows will be shown onCNNI.

Another addition to their schedule is the return of one of the brands from their hey day, news bulletin CNN Tonight, which is said to be hosted by a rotating cast of anchors. This will be aired at 10pm US time, the first time in a long time they have had a fixed live broadcast at that hour. I predict it will be simulcast on CNNI in the 4am CAT slot currently occupied by a repeat of Quest Means Business. Here, again, the name of the show doesn't exactly consider an international audience that might be watching in the middle of the morning.

Another sad thing about them announcing these shows is that it ends the hopes of the likes of anchors Jake Tapper, Smerconish, Don Lemon and Bill Weir (who was brought in to CNN to host a show which forever remains in 'development'). All of the aforementioned anchors were to 'audition' for the 9pm slot since Piers Morgan left, but at the time of the announcement of what will be taking the slots, only the first two actually got to carry out their 'audition.'

The overall new US schedule leaves three hours open on the CNNI schedule, all of Piers' old slots: 1am CAT, which was a repeat slot here on the EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa feed). Currently it is filled with the first hour of CNN NewsRoom Live from Hong Kong, CNN's Asian breakfast show.
3amCAT (which will now have to be programmed by them)
1pmCAT(Which this week has been filled with the US breakfast show New Day, even though it is prime time in Asian markets.