The Times has run several articles about Katie Couric’s disappointing third place finish in the nightly news game. Today’s Times reports that, “In the latest week’s ratings, “CBS Evening News” had its worst performance since the Nielsen company installed its “people meter” ratings system 20 years ago.” For $15 million dollars and a four day a week job, she really should be doing better.

The Times wonders if the numbers are bad, because people aren’t ready for a woman to deliver the serious news or because Katie sucks.

It nearly impossible for me to watch the 6:30 news. That’s prime time in my house. I’m making dinner, helping with homework, shuffling to sports games. But I’ve been very interested in the Katie question, so I’ve made a point of checking her out several times in the past month.

My ruling… Katie sucks. We all know Katie after years on the Today show cheerfully reporting on the latest exercise craze and shoe styles. Now, she’s all stiff and serious talking about suicide bombers in Iraq, and it just doesn’t work. There is definitely a type-casting problem, but I could get over that if she did a better job delivering the news. She tries too hard for gravitas and instead ends up over acting. Funereal.

She might do a better job grabbing her old audience of soccer moms, if the news were on at a different time. The 6:30 news is a dinosaur of an era when men returned from work at 5:30 and the wives had meatloaf on the table at 6:00. My husband nukes leftovers at 7:00. Often later. By 6:30, I have already checked out the Times website five or six times, read the blogs, listened to the local news show on the radio on the way to work. I would still watch the evening news though, if it was on at 8:00 and if I didn’t have to watch Katie over acting.

Is there a chick component to Katie’s low ratings? Are people distracted by her clothes and make-up and more willing to trust a bland, white man in a grey suit? Is there still lingering prejudice about women talking about politics? How can that be in an era of Pelosi and Hillary?