Katie Couric
Gossip

Well, this is one way to help CBS News climb out of the ratings basement. Who knew Katie Couric looked so good - and could get low on the dance floor?

Pictures posted on her 18-year-old daughter's Facebook page (she is soo grounded) shows the CBS Evening News anchor grinding in a short black skirt.

The occasion for Katie Couric dancing provocatively on a rooftop of Manhattan's Hudson Hotel? A 2006 party celebrating her taking over CBS' newscast.

As you can see, Katie sure can bust a move ...

CBS News' Katie Couric does a little dirty dancing.

The pictures, while nothing you wouldn't normally see at a wedding or pretty much any party, are nonetheless eyebrow-raising for a journalist of her stature.

In response, Couric's rep, Matthew Hiltzik said "Katie had a good time dancing with her daughters - they choreographed the dance and had fun doing it."

These images beg the eternal question: What would Walter Cronkite think? More importantly, what do you think of the Katie Couric dancing photos?

Katie Couric is known for being a trustworthy news source.

But her daughters, Ellie and Carrie, appear to really be in the know when it comes to the boob tube.

"They watch The O.C.," Couric told People magazie. "They're very excited about Gossip Girl. I don't think they pay a lot of attention to the news right now. They're 16 and 11."

These insightful words came Tuesday at Washington, D.C.'s National Press Club to veteran journalist and scholar Marvin Kalb. Couric said of her daughters:

"They do watch my broadcast occasionally. I give them a pop quiz when I come home for dinner."

Overall, the CBS news anchor is afraid she isn't being taken seriously due to the nature of some of her past Today segments.

"Suddenly when I was put in a format where it was [not] personality-driven at all, I think it was a bit of an adjustment for people."

Thanks to People magazine for collecting the following ...

"I have bruises all over. That's why I haven't worn shorts."
â€" Lindsay Lohan, on her recent pole-dancing lessons

"It's more relaxing there. You can go to a coffee shop in your sweatpants and no one cares. Though everyone in my hometown thinks Hollywood is so small. They think I live next door to J.Lo and hang out with Leonardo DiCaprio."
â€" Maxim's January cover girl, Lacey Chabert, on coming home to Mississippi

"You have to be unwavering in your convictions that you're doing something good, because there are a lot of circling vultures that will eat you alive."
â€" CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric, telling Esquire that she feels some people are rooting for her to fail in her new job

"There's a good chance that I'll do something like that again ... Not on purpose."
â€" Rosie O'Donnell, apologizing for offensive comments on The View that outraged the Asian-American community

"It's the first time I've ever felt bad that somebody didn't win. It was so evenly matched."
â€" Jeff Probst, on his feelings about the Survivor finale and winner Yul Kwon

"Have you folks seen the new Mel Gibson movie, Apolcalypto? Well, it's apparently â€" the whole movie is in ancient Mayan, and I'm thinking to myself, 'If I want to see a movie that's incomprehensible in language, well, I'll just go see Rocky Balboa.' "
â€" David Letterman
"I've only known her for, like, seven days, but I have a connection with her that's like nothing else I've ever experienced."
â€" Aaron Carter, on his girlfriend, singer Kaci Brown

"I'm still nursing, and I think it gives you superhuman powers."

â€" Gwen Stefani on her energy level since giving birth to her son Kingston in May

"I'm going to the show if I can waddle out of the house. I don't know what kind of tent they are going to put me in. I'm thinking black or navy. It's not going to be a high-fashion year for me. And I'm thinking barefoot. I deserve it."
â€" Pregnant Golden Globe nominee Marcia Cross, on her preparations for the ceremony

America's Sweetheart has fangs. And she's using them to tell a certain publication to take a bite out of her bitter backside.

Katie Couric recently admitted that her new gig as anchor of the CBS Evening News has been "a little harder than I thought it would be."

"Some people out there are rooting for me to fail," Couric, 49, tells Esquire in its January issue. "You have to be unwavering in your convictions that you're doing something good, because there are a lot of circling vultures that will eat you alive."

After debuting - around the same time as Rosie O'Donnell on The View - to strong ratings, Couric has seen her show's popularity sink.

And she cites Esquire itself for criticizing her performance.

"You guys even take a shot at me," she tells the magazine. "You have something in the November issue, something about how since I've become an anchor, you don't know me anymore. You don't know me anymore? Bite me."

Whoa. Those are words you expect to hear from Heather Mills, not Katie Couric.

There are perks to the new gig, however. "I sleep a little later, but I'm busier than ever," Couric says. "I now get to make pancakes or scrambled eggs for my daughters (Ellie, 15, and Carrie, 10) in the morning, though some days I can't get it together and we have cold cereal."

We like Katie. So hopefully the critics aren't getting to her. Guess we'll know for sure if or when she ever molests a dog.

Despite recent difficulties, Whitney Houston isn't the only one doing great.

Cheery anchor Katie Couric is maintaining her upbeat personality in the face of decreased rating for the CBS Evening News.

Claiming that despite her third-place ranking among the major three network newscasts, she's "feeling great" and "having a great time," Couric told USA Today:

"We kind of ignore people who are observing everything we do and praising, criticizing or analyzing it, and we're just doing what we want."

Sounds like a typial night out for Lindsay Lohan and Rumer Willis to us.

Couric, who delivered a ratings wallop with her Sept. 5 debut, says that being in first place "was never an expectation by anyone at CBS News, and it shouldn't have been an expectation by anyone in the outside world. Viewing habits are slow to turn around."

Couric also noted that "Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will The CBS Evening News." Somewhere, though, Tara Reid pointed out her boobs actually were built in a day.

Among the highlights of which Couric is proud was last week's interview with Michael J. Fox a day after radio host Rush Limbaugh accused the actor of not taking his Parkinson's disease medicine in order to accentuate his symptoms while shooting a commercial for a Democratic candidate favoring stem cell research.

Couric considered Thursday's interview with Fox "absolutely riveting TV, not to mention an important news story."

In other words: it was the opposite of anythig ever written about Suri Cruise.

Pop quiz, Gossip followers:

Which is falling faster: the weight of Kate Bosworth or the ratings of CBS Evening News?

While we don't have exact figures on the former (expert estimate anywhere between 17 and 48 pounds per week), we can report that Katie Couric can't be too pleased with how her program is faring.

The CBS Evening News slipped to third place last week, drawing just 7.5 million viewers. That's almost as many people as have been flashed in this Paris Hilton picture.

Such a result has landed Couric behind NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams (8.2 million) and ABC's World News With Charles Gibson (7.6 million) for the first time since Couric took the CBS anchor chair on Sept. 5.

Still, CBS pointed out that Couric's ratings are robust compared with last year, with viewership up around 22 percent.

In other words: the show doesn't suck as much as it used to. It's the opposite of Britney Spears in that regard.

Say what you want about Rosie O'Donnell (come on, go ahead, Star Jones), but one thing's for sure: A lot more people are watching The View now, at least according to the ratings for Rosie's first day.

Rosie's debut on Tuesday attracted four million viewers nationwide, a 54 percent jump from the same day a year ago.

Of course, many viewers may have tuned in to her Jessica Simpson talk about not dating John Mayer, as well.

The show also increased its numbers among its sweet-spot audience, women 18-49 years old. You barely made it, Kristin Cavallari!

The first night of Katie Couric as the anchor of the CBS Evening News, meanwhile, drew a huge 9.1 rating, more than doubling the rating from the year before.

And that was without the audience even knowing Couric would be revealing Suri Cruise pictures. Impressive.

Considering the fac that Katie Couric debuted on the CBS Evening News by finally exposing Suri Cruise to the world, we either give the anchor an A+ or an F-.

She answered long-term, nagging questions from The Gossip staff and its fans - but she also killed our favorite story.

What did other news and celebrity fodder outlets have to say after which in metered markets emerged as the program's highest-rated broadcast since Feb. 23, 1998? Let's take a gander ...

- The New York Daily News' David Bianculli called Couric's maiden voyage "impressive," noting, "She was serious at the start, folksy at the end, and poised and professional throughout."

Interestingly, not a single one of those adjectives describes Jennifer Love Hewitt.

- "Katie was cool and confident [but] the format was uneven," one anonymous media expert said.

- Added another nameless critic: "[Couric] seemed to strike the right note at the start... but then started doing an intellectual striptease. What's up with that identity crisis?"

- The Hollywood Reporter echoed that last thought, calling the half hour "a news-flavored broadcast that consists of one or two news pieces, a few headlines and a host of soft features."

No way the publication was talking about Suri. That was a hard-hitting piece of reporting.

The news was supposed to be that Katie Couric made her broadcasting debut on CBS Evening News tonight. But someone much younger stole the spotlight:

SURI CRUISE.

On her first night as anchor, Couric revealed photos of the four and a half month old Suri, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. The most myserious tyke on the planet. The Gossip's obsession for weeks. The reason we wake up and scan the blog rolls every morning.

Sorry, it's been an emotional week. First ... Suri's pop apologies ... then Mel Gibson follows suit ... then Ashlee Simpson and Braxton Olita call it quits.

We REALLY need a Jello wrestling match between Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton soon. Please, petty ladies.

Suri had not been seen in public since her birth on April 18. But this week's issue of Vanity Fair will have the world's first photos. We'll be first in line for it.

It may not be a feud of Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan proportions, but you can feel the heat radiating off the images below.

Never before in the history of morning talk shows and network news telecasts has a rivalry been seen the likes of Katie Couric and Meredith Vieira. As the latter replaces the former on the Today show, only viewers can make the important decision:

Who would you prefer to wake up to?