The Soft Side Of Anderson

TELEVISION

Talk show brings out Cooper’s soft-news side

By David Hiltbrand
THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERSaturday October 15, 2011 -- 7:23 AM

NEW YORK — To many people’s vast surprise, Anderson Cooper — with his syndicated daytime talk show Anderson — has been doing a bang-up job of filling the void left by Oprah Winfrey.

Since the show premiered in mid-September, he has also continued his hard-news duties for CNN and his contributions to 60 Minutes.

He has handled the fizzy fare that goes hand in hand with the chat format freakishly well, some observers say.

And, it turns out, he’s even a pop-culture omnivore — a side of him that has surfaced only in recent years.

“I started filling in for Regis (on Live With Regis and Kelly), and I did some things for Oprah,” said Cooper, 44. “And I found that I enjoyed the variety of topics, the enthusiasm of the audience, and the fun you could have on a daily basis. I began to show my personality in a less-formal setting.”

Kelly Ripa, the Kelly of Regis and Kelly, noted her role in the emergence.

“So many people know him as this champion of people who have no voice,” she said. “When he started hosting with me, we brought out the irreverent side of him.”

Those who hadn’t caught those appearances, though, might have questioned his suitability for daytime television.

“When we started talking about this show and developing it, anyone who hadn’t seen him on Regis and Kelly would say: ‘Really? For daytime?’ ” said Cathy Chermol Schrijver, Cooper’s executive producer. “He just didn’t seem like the natural choice.”

Yet that’s not the case, she said. “He’s so well-versed on everything, including pop culture. He knows more about The Real Housewives than I think they do.”

The other question about the choice of Cooper was time — namely, Cooper’s limited amount of it.

“He has a full plate, obviously,” said Hilary Estey McLoughlin, president of Telepictures Productions, which syndicates Anderson. “He’s been managing it really well.”

He has shown a remarkable facility to shift between his news and talk-show-host personas.

“True story,” Chermol Schrijver said. “We’re talking about the show, and he’s in Somalia. He says, ‘Hold on, I have to do a live shot.’ I’ve got CNN in my office, and I watch him do a live stand-up in Somalia, and then he gets back on the phone with me to talk about Sarah Jessica Parker. “

He does save commuting time: Anderson is shot in a studio of chrome and blond wood with an expansive view of Central Park South, the same building complex where his AC360 is shot.

In one of his most emotional Anderson shows to date, he welcomed his mother — heiress and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt — to discuss the 1988 suicide of Cooper’s older sibling, Carter.

As a lifelong New Yorker with distinctive looks that announce themselves from a distance, the bachelor newsman is recognized wherever he goes in Manhattan.

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said. “It seems like a silly thing to complain about. I really don’t think of myself as a public person.”