Anderlina!

What happens when a self-important actress wants credibility and the granddaddy of 24 hour network news desires to be seen as cool and happening? Angelina Jolie appears on Anderson Cooper 360 for, as the CNN promo puts it, “her first interview since the birth of Shiloh.” That’s what happens.

It should come as no surprise that the woman who longs to be more than just another starlet is hooking up with the guy who longs to be so much more than your average news reporter. On his daily blog at CNN.com he takes pains to point out his own motivational innocence:

There are a lot of ridiculous stories circling on the Internet, spread by alleged "insiders" who claim that CNN or its parent company Time Warner somehow paid for the chance to talk to Angelina. These anonymous "sources" claim that People Magazine and CNN had some kind of joint deal to secure rights to photos and the interview.

I have no idea what People Magazine did or did not pay for those photos of the Jolie-Pitt family. It's been reported they paid as much as $4 million, which was donated to a variety of charities in Africa, but I have no way of knowing if that is true or not. What I do know is that CNN did not pay anything -- directly or indirectly -- to get Angelina Jolie to sit down for an interview.

And he waxes eloquent about his up-to-now misunderstood interviewee:

A lot of celebrities have causes and show up to talk about them when cameras are around, but the truth is that Angelina Jolie knows what she is talking about when the subject is refugees. To use a cliche, she doesn't just talk the talk, she walks the walk. She has traveled to some 20 countries over the years as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and she says she donates one-third of her income to charitable causes.

I'm not sure what I expected before I met her, but to say I was impressed would be an understatement. She is smart, funny, self-deprecating, and intensely passionate about her children and her work on behalf of refugees.

Yes I’m sure the collagen-laden thesbian is charming, and who knows, maybe even well informed. But there is something kabuki-like in this dance between preening personalities. They need each other. Saint Angie needs news cred to be taken seriously on her pet causes while Cooper continues his histrionic attempts to be seen as hip- not your father’s TV reporter, and all that nonsense.

I won’t actually watch the thing. But it is comforting to know that the beautiful people are getting together to chat… and save the world.