andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Ever since his coverage of the Hurricane Katrina aftermath in New Orleans, Anderson Cooper has become a household name.

But that wasn’t the first hurricane he covered ? and it most likely won’t be his last.

Contrary to what most people think, his show on CNN ? “360″ ? isn’t new on CNN. In fact, up until his coverage of Katrina captivated the U.S. nation, he had his show ? only it was from 7?8 p.m.

I’ve been watching Cooper for years. As a journalist, I have admired him. His storytelling ability is like something I’ve never seen in an anchor. Even if I have no interest on the subject he’s talking about, Cooper makes me want to watch it anyway.

Cooper released his memoirs this week called, appropriately, “Dispatches From the Edge,” which chronicles both his professional and personal life. I have it on my to-buy list.

Part of me is curious to read more about the man I go to bed with every night, but the professional side of me is also curious. Although I am a print journalist, I still feel like I could learn a lot from him.

I love the way he tells the stories of the people he is talking about. The way he draws the viewer in, even if you know nothing about the subject, by the end of Cooper’s story, you do know something about the subject. And usually, his pieces make you want to learn more.

And that is what makes a great journalist.

It’s too bad that the rest of the cable viewing public didn’t notice Cooper before Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast last year.

I admit, even I didn’t think much of Cooper the first time I saw him. As a hurricane junkie (I usually park myself in front of CNN when a hurricane makes landfall), the first time I saw Cooper he was trying not to blow away as a storm came ashore. And as I watched him yell into his microphone in the wind and rain, I couldn?t help but think, “poor guy.”

I always had thought that when a reporter was sent to cover a hurricane, it wasn’t a good thing. I thought it was a little silly that they were standing outside telling everyone how dangerous it was to be out (in fact Cooper confessed thinking along the same lines on “Larry King Live” tonight).

But Cooper was different, and a lot of his difference was shown in the aftermath of Katrina. He stuck around a lot longer than other media outlets, questioned officials who said everything was fine and even got emotional on the air, which most times I frown upon, but with Cooper it seems justified and okay when he gets teared up when talking to someone who has lost everything.

Rumours of course fly about Cooper, especially now that he has made it even bigger in the celebrity stratosphere (Oprah has said how much she respects him, and Oprah’s influence is a huge thing). The biggest one is that he is gay, which the journalist hasn’t confirmed or denied.

And I respect that.

Even though I am a celebrity junkie, for someone reason I don’t care if Cooper is gay or straight. Because to me he’s more than a celebrity, more than just a personality, more than just a guy who talks to me every night.

He’s a journalist and a storyteller ? nothing else.

And to me, that means more than any tabloid dirt about him ever could.

So Hurricane Dennis is raging down south and major TV networks have again decided to plop hapless journalists into the heart of the storm so they can be pelted with 135 mph winds and rain, struggling to stay upright while telling us, the viewers, that “Everyone has been evacuated, homes are gone and it’s really, really windy!”

I could have told you that before you headed to Florida, Bob/Tom/Jim.

And while I really, really enjoy seeing Geraldo Rivera get thrashed senselessly by tree branches and gusts of wind that could overturn large vehicles (I?m waiting for him to be swept in to the water for good), it pains me to see CNN’s Anderson Cooper suffer in a similar manner.

As a poster on another website so aptly pointed out, ?what did these people do at the company Christmas party to deserve this gig??

It?s not just my slightly-embarrassing crush on the handsome grey-haired newsman that makes me want him to stay safe, it?s that somewhere, in the back of my mind, I reminisce about the good-old-days of ?The Mole? and hope that he would some day return to host the show, as he once did.

Looking at the reality shows on now, I can say honestly that no show (with maybe the Amazing Race as an exception) was as clever, and intelligent enough to keep me watching week after week. And no, I don’t mean ?Celebrity Mole Hawaii?, or Yucatan which arose from the ashes of the original show, those were embarrassing at best.

The original show was actually fun to watch. As findthemole.com boasts, the first season?s action took place on ?two continents, four countries, 34 cities, 28 days, 65 different hotels, 15,000 miles of travel, and 16 modes of transportation, including planes, helicopters, buses, vans, boats, motorcycles and horses?. Kind of like “The Amazing Race”, without an actual race (unless you consider finding the identity of the mole first a race).

Anyway, the first two seasons of ?The Mole? (airing in 2000 and 2002 respectively and ranging from nine episodes in season one to 13 in the second) were so entertaining because the concept was simple: a group of contestants must work together to complete challenges and win up to $1 million.

One problem: one of the contestants is set up by the producers to try to subtly sabotage each challenge and prevent the team from winning. At the end of each episode, contestants are individually quizzed about their team-mates and what happened during the last challenge to try to pin point who they think the mole is. The person with the lowest score each week is sent home, and in the last episode, the mole is revealed and the last player standing is awarded the prize money earned.

Simple really. There were no lurid and staged scandals (no distracting and false romances), alliances meant nothing and got you nowhere, and the tasks tested both physical and psychological abilities. Contestants didn?t necessarily fit in to the all-too-common casting stereo types (they ranged in age from 20s to 60s), and it was actually fun to watch. Oh, and did I mention the dreamy Anderson Cooper guides you along?

You never really could guess who the mole was, and just as you thought you had it figured out, the person was sent home the following week leaving you dumbfounded.

Who could forget season one?s finale when sneaky Kathryn shocked everyone (well, at least me and my friends) by turning out to be the elusive mole. The sweet girl who sobbed when she screwed up a challenge for the team turning out to be the saboteur? Gasp! A lawyer scheming her way to success? Never!

Season two turned out to be just as good, but sadly with Anderson Cooper joining CNN and Ahmad Rashad taking over as host of the crappy celebrity editions that followed, my favourite reality show would never be the same.

An online petition was even created by desperate fans (kind of like myself) after the end of season two to try and keep the show alive. But although more than 10,000 people signed, Anderson was gone for good and viewers instead got Ahmad Rashad and a half-assed version of the original show (which thankfully died after two seasons). Sigh.

But it?s ok. Every time I tune in to ?Anderson Cooper 360?? on CNN I still smile and think of the days that were.