• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 21, 2006

Everything about Katie Couric's debut as the anchor of "The CBS Evening News" can be found in these four words: ginger root maple laminate.

That's the color and description of Couric's new desk. Viewers will obviously know what that means--especially compared to the darker mahogany furniture used by her predecessors Dan Rather and Bob Schieffer.

News can be a seriously gloomy subject.

The desk, according to The New York Times, sits on bright red and blue carpeting. There's a 15-foot projection television nearby, as well as standing and sitting areas for live interviews.

Now, the cooking segment... Oh. Wrong show. Couric leaves that "Today Show" stuff behind.

But not completely. Couric's delivery will be different: less Ron Burgundy-robotic anchor talk, and more "talk... in simple language that we use in conversation," says Couric.

While a $10 million marketing campaign is already in full gear for Couric, her competitors aren't standing idly by, according to the Times.  Both ABC and NBC are in full swing to remind its viewers they still have prime-time news shows as well.

Those networks will also deliver a message to CBS. Starting September, a four-story-tall image of Brian Williams will hover over the CBSBroadcastCenter in Manhattan from a banner at West 57 Street and 10th Avenue.  Charles Gibson of ABC's "World News" is being relaunched with the tag line: "Your Trusted Source."

Despite network news' eroding ratings and increasingly older audiences, there's half a billion dollars of advertising dollars on the line--still a nice business to be in.  Say what you want about the Internet--those revenues are minuscule to what can be still gained on broadcast television.

Couric was brought in as a game changer--the first woman soloing a daily network news prime-time show, who will hopefully bring some of those younger viewers back to the network.

Getting there will take colors and textures different from what network news shows are accustomed to--including ginger root maple laminate.