I just stopped in to see what situation the Situation Room was in

Big day today: it's the first time updating on CNN's new show the Situation Room. Why do we care, you ask? Because buried within the 3 hour show is the most exquisite jewel of a newscaster named Abbi Tatton. She had been co-hosting the Inside the Blogs segment on the previous show Inside Politics, and now she will be continuing in a similar role on the Situation Room.

I mist say I was a tad annoyed to find they did not publish the transcript of the show, which would have helped locate said jewel's appearances. So I had to zip through the tape till I found them. I had located three spots in the final two hours when I decided I might as well check the first hour, even though I was sure there wouldn't be any. But guess what? There was, causing me to exclaim "Good Lord!" at the munificence of 4 whole appearances by Ms. Tatton in one day.

So let's get to them. The anchor Wolf Blitzer announced the segment, around 3:40 p.m., called the Situation Online. Then he handed it to Ms. Tatton and her erstwhile cohort Jacki. The biggest change from the old show was obvious: the co-hosts stand next to giant screens and point to them as they talk. "They're standing?!?" I exclaimed. The topic was the grieving mother who was protesting the Iraq war. Ms. Tatton balanced Jacki's report of the mother with a cite of Sgt. C. J. Grisham (I think this is the link) and his open letter to her. Ms. Tatton was wearing her necklace with the squarish ornament, and when they were about to cut away, she could be seen twisting her right foot up on her toes and tilting her head to the right, looking ever so sweetly demure.

At 4:19 there was the second segment. This time the topic was Pirro running against Clinton. Ms. Tatton got to go first this time, showing us Fresh Politics and PoliBlog as supporters of Pirro. When the segment was done, Wolf Blitzer thanked the "guys." Also, here I realized why they were having so many segments: each one appeared to be exceedingly brief - both Ms. Tatton and Jacki got about one turn each.

At 4:57 came #3, about Peter Jennings. This time (and only this time) the segment was called Inside the Blogs. Ms. Tatton quoted Wizbang and FishbowlDC as sites, media and non-media, that were paying tribute. She also noted that the latter had posted on Saturday asking for prayers for Jennings, suggesting they were privy to some of the rumors that she said had been circulating. After Jacki's turn, Wolf engaged the two in questioning. He basically asked Ms. Tatton another version of the question he'd just asked Jacki: what do hits on a website really mean? Ms. Tatton replied that they could just be someone clicking on a site "many many times", but they were counters to show how much traffic a site got, and she used Daily Kos as an example. Well done! By the way, I have never repeatedly clicked on this site, although I have occasionally checked back on it 4 or 5 times in one day.

At 5:46 came the final round. This time they began by explaining what a webshot was, then Ms. Tatton turned and began interviewing a Japanese blogger. "They're doing interviews!?!" I exclaimed. Ms. Tatton noted that with webshots they could "talk to people in their homes" - who wouldn't want to let Ms. Tatton into their home? She then asked Joichi Ito if what he said about Japanese being slightly uncomfortable with the whole atomic bomb remembrances was true. He answered that many Japanese saw it only as a historical event with no connection to them personally. During this segment I also noted her title was "Internet Producer" instead of "Political Producer."

So that was the format of the new segments. I somehow feel like I shouldn't but I will weigh in on what I thought (and Ms. Tatton, if I wonder about something that was your doing, I apologize for my cluelessness in advance). I must say it was striking to see Ms. Tatton standing, and standing there gesturing to the giant screen, and then taking and asking questions. This new gig clearly requires more substantive screen time, and that's great. There were some great shots of Ms. Tatton standing there. But I do think they could let them sit down; otherwise, they'll look like two students giving oral reports in history class. And I'm not sure the web is newsworthy enough to keep going back to it, even if only for little snippets; the way they did it before with two segments of several turns each was a good approach. Of course, I'll look at Ms. Tatton no matter what she's doing, and for however long they like. What do I know anyway? By the way, there were no teasers that I saw; I guess we get enough "at ease" views of Ms. Tatton as she waits for her turn to speak.

The show itself looked ok, from what I saw as I fast-forwarded. Again, there seemed to be a lot of standing going on in the show; what happened to anchor desks? Also, does anyone else think Jack Cafferty reminds them of that overdue library book cop from that episode of Seinfeld? I remember his name was Bookman.

Well, those are my first impressions. I'm sure the show will evolve slightly as it goes along, and I'll be sure to track all Tatton-related evolving faithfully. Hey, it's what I do.