It's further proof that Ms. Couric's move to CBS and Ms. Vieira's departure from ABC's The View essentially were signed, sealed and delivered months ago. Nothing happens overnight when stakes are this high.

Interviewed on MSNBC Thursday while seated beside boss man Jeff Zucker, Ms. Vieira revealed that she had a "blind date" way back in December with Today co-host Matt Lauer. They met at his home to see if they'd like each other. And guess what? They did.

New CBS News president Sean McManus also made it abundantly clear in January that he basically had Ms. Couric in his pocket. He never mentioned her name during his first formal meeting with TV critics. But he narrowed the possibilities to the point of no return, prompting yours truly to write with little fear of contradiction, "It's beginning to look a lot like Katie."

Ms. Couric, 49, will be making history by becoming the first woman to solo-anchor a network evening news broadcast. No matter how she fares, that makes her a pioneer in league with Geraldine Ferraro, Sally Ride and even Joan Rivers, the first female host of a late-night network talk show.

Still, the CBS Evening News, despite its storied legacy, isn't the lofty perch it used to be. For that matter, none of the dinner-hour newscasts are.

Commendably, they remain the best places on TV to get the important news of the day in a serious, straightforward setting. Lamentably, their audiences continue to shrink while also growing older. Retirees are the principal customers, and indeed their numbers will be increasing in future years.

But Madison Avenue has little use for old-timers. Today is where the big money is, and most of that show's comparatively younger viewers simply don't get home in time to catch an evening newscast. Not that many of them would if they could. The Internet and 24-hour cable news channels are a younger generation's principal information centers.

In that context, interim anchor Bob Schieffer, 69, may be better suited to shepherding the CBS Evening News. Were he five years younger and not intent on retiring, the job would remain his without question.

On the same day that Ms. Couric made her move official, CBS issued another press release touting the Evening News' ratings gains during Mr. Schieffer's almost 13 months in "The Chair." For the week of March 27-31, CBS trailed ABC's second-place World News Tonight by fewer than 400,00 viewers and front-running NBC Nightly News by 1.2 million. A year ago, the gap between first and third place was 2.3 million viewers.

Ms. Couric, who's scheduled to join both the Evening News and 60 Minutes in September, faces the distinct possibility of inheriting a second-place broadcast with considerable momentum behind it. Is she "avuncular" and-or likable enough to appeal to an older audience? Or might the Evening News in fact lose ground after an initial sampling burst?

Mr. Schieffer, who publicly applauds Ms. Couric's hiring, carries next to no "baggage" on- or off-camera. Nightly News' Brian Williams said in a recent telephone interview: "You could spend the rest of your life trying to find a quote critical of Bob Schieffer in our industry. And if you find one, that is not a creditable person. I have never met an enemy of Bob Schieffer. He is impossible not to like."

Ms. Couric, on the other hand, has her detractors. Some perceive her as an unabashedly liberal interviewer while others see her as simply a tough questioner when the occasion demands. An infamous recent article in The New York Times branded her a fearsome diva, but many of her colleagues quickly came to her defense.

She'll now have to tread carefully on Today, which will have her services through May. On Monday, Ms. Couric still felt free to dance with Antonio Banderas during a spot promoting his new movie. That's probably not in the cards anymore. Future anchors of the CBS Evening News are best advised to stop riding the tricycle. Not that The Daily Show or other late-night comics will be starved for a wealth of already available clips from 15 years of Today hijinks.

Ms. Vieira, on the other hand, is pretty much free to do as she pleases until joining No. 1-ranked Today in September. NBC already has said she'll be allowed to keep hosting the syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Squabbling with Star Jones Reynolds on The View likewise is A-OK.

NBC's Mr. Zucker, during the MSNBC interview, made it a point to say that Ms. Vieira "can run the gamut like no one else." That includes Today's traditional Halloween dress-up day, he said approvingly.

Ms. Vieira, 52, who amazingly shares the same Dec. 30 birthday with the 48-year-old Mr. Lauer, has ample hard-news chops as well. She's a former 60 Minutes correspondent who also regularly reported for the CBS Evening News. Equally important, she's a free-spirited mother of three teenagers who seems perfectly suited to the sometimes slap-happy Today environment.

Her quote on cosmetic surgery in the May issue of More magazine is typically candid and disarming: "That slippery slope. My goal is to avoid it, but my God, I'm in a visual medium. I'm only 52. Nobody's asked yet."

Today has made an optimal choice in Ms. Vieira, who should be able to supplant Ms. Couric without missing a beat - hard news or otherwise. She's also joining NBC's biggest revenue producer, with an appreciably younger audience of 6.2 million viewers in the latest available weekly ratings.

Bigger questions remain for Ms. Couric, whose challenge is both tougher and historically more important. No one can blame her for wanting a change after 15 years at Today. Her tomorrows now will be under a microscope. Is she ready for her close-ups in a completely different arena? In TV land, that's easily the year's biggest unanswered question.

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