'Anderson' = 'AC 180'

Cooper, of CNN '360' fame, does a 180 for daytime TV

By Associated Press

Posted: 09/17/2011 04:49:34 PM PDT
Updated: 09/17/2011 06:38:58 PM PDT

"Anderson," a new syndicated daytime talk show, has been on only a week, and viewers already know more about Anderson Cooper than they've learned in the decade he has spent as a CNN anchor and correspondent.

Cooper is opening up about everything, almost.

On Monday he plans to show an interview with his famous mother, the exquisitely preserved Gloria Vanderbilt, 87. In it they go over her tragedy-filled youth, and his. Cooper chokes up as they discuss his brother's suicide in 1988. He and his mother hold hands while a family friend, Judy Collins, takes the stage to sing "Amazing Grace."

Last week Cooper confided that he went on vacation in Colombia recently with a friend who had just come out of rehab, but he didn't name the friend. He did, however, show photographs of himself, bare-chested and plastered with goop from a volcano mud bath near Cartagena.

Cooper got a spray tan with Snooki of "Jersey Shore," mugged side by side with his wax likeness from Madame Tussauds, and compared childhoods with Sarah Jessica Parker. (When he was 11 his mother took him to Studio 54 -- with Michael Jackson.)

He invited the comedian Kathy Griffin and a camera crew for a weekend at his summer house in the Hamptons. He and his high-maintenance guest romped in his bed and poolside; she complained that he didn't have servants. Cooper said he liked it like that but didn't explain who looks after his dog, Molly, when he goes on assignment.

The one thing he hasn't done -- and the lacuna grows more obvious and awkward with each show -- is talk about his love life. It's hard to see how he can continue to leave that out selectively and preserve one particular zone of privacy while building a confessional talk show wrapped around his good looks, high spirits and glamorous adventures.

Cooper still covers news on "Anderson Cooper 360" on CNN, and is a contributor to "60 Minutes" on CBS, but he clearly hopes to fill a vacuum left by the end of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," because he has pulled out all the stops to embrace daytime television's loosey-goosey ethos, perhaps trying to stake out his territory before Katie Couric starts her talk show on ABC next year. Last week Cooper commiserated with the family of Amy Winehouse; on Friday, he spoke to some of the cast of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" about the suicide of Taylor Armstrong's estranged husband, Russell. (Taylor Armstrong did not participate.)

And it is remarkable, given his hard-news background, how quickly Cooper has adapted to the format and his fancy, light-filled set overlooking Columbus Circle.

In the intro Cooper glides through New York on his bike, no helmet, waving at cabdrivers. Onstage he jokes with movie stars, comforts guests and strolls with his microphone into the studio audience, sharing his feelings.

-- New York Times