Anderson Cooper will host his own daytime talk show

Apparently tired of being the blue-eyed soul of CNN, Anderson Cooper is said to be finalizing a deal for his own syndicated daytime talk show, which would allow him to talk about nice stuff like pop culture and broader social issues instead of, you know, rats devouring bodies in the New Orleans street and what the Tea Party did today. Under the terms of the contract, Cooper will still have to host Anderson Cooper 360, but if a balance can be worked out, they hope to have him on the air in fall 2011—“just as talk queen Oprah Winfrey exits,” not that they’re implying anything. (UPDATE: That was fast. Deadline now reports it's a done deal.)