CNN has announced plans to schedule a new vehicle for one of the channel’s most successful anchors, Erin Burnett.
Her current show, “Erin Burnett OutFront,” regularly draws hundreds of viewers in primetime, and network executives want to leverage this success into developing a Sunday morning show to go head-to-head with “Fox News Sunday,” “Meet the Press” and “Face the Nation.”
The format of the show is expected to involve Burnett leaving the glare of the main studio lights to adopt a more covert, investigative style. The conceit is that secretive sources and whistleblowers will be met and interviewed by Burnett in a small darkened room off a parking lot at the rear of CNN’s Atlanta headquarters.
According one source, the tentative working title for the show is “Erin Burnett Up The Back Passage.” Other possible titles include “Erin Burnett’s Back Door,” “Erin Burnett: Rear Entry,” and in an allusion to the shady and controversial nature of the material that will be discussed, “In the Dirt Box with Erin Burnett.”
CNN’s executive vice president in charge of show titling, Hampton Strait, told the Dandy Goat that he was excited about Burnett receiving more exposure, and expected her to take the opportunity to open up more and explore new positions. “Erin ‘will take it from behind’ the studios and see where the story goes,” Strait added.