What Would Dan Rather Do Now?

CBS has cancelled 60 Minutes Wednesday.

In his remarks, Mr. Moonves said he was canceling the program not because of the report on Mr. Bush - which, an outside panel concluded, was rushed onto the air in a bid to beat the network's competitors - but because the Wednesday edition of "60 Minutes" is among the least-watched shows on the network's prime-time schedule and draws an audience older than advertisers generally seek.

Ah yes, the traditional face-saving reasoning.

Mind you, it was the right decision. Dan Rather staying on as correspondent did this show no favours, particularly after Rathergate.

Now that the program has been canceled, Mr. Rather will probably be given a slot on the Sunday edition of "60 Minutes" through 2006, according to two people familiar with his contract.

But the cancellation is expected to have reverberations throughout the news division as correspondents, producers, editors and others are perhaps moved around. If the show does return, Mr. Moonves said, it would only be in occasional one-hour specials.

All of this is just another step in the spiraling fall of Dan Rather. The odds of Dan getting back onto 60 Minutes on Sunday nights is pretty slim, given his age, the slate of correspondents already there, and Dan's still crumbling reputation. (Well, of course he could try to get work at Newsweek, but somehow I doubt they'd be willing to hire him. :))

Something tells me I'd better check on Iowahawk. We may get another Inspector Dan story ...