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ABC has finally realized that popular, busty, vacuous Internet anchorwomen do not translate into popular, busty, vacuous television anchors. The network is severing its one-year relationship with Amanda Congdon, who shot to Internet fame hosting the videoblog Rocketboom. So what now?


ABC can dismiss the failure as an experiment:

It's been a great year with Amanda — a great experiment for both of us. We thank her for her many contributions and know that she's about to embark on new endeavors and expect there will be times in the future that we can again work together.

The TV network learned a simple lesson: Quirky Internet success does not equal mainstream-media succcess. And frankly, ABC is likely as much to blame as Congdon; it failed to pick up some of Rocketboom's key interactive elements, while Congdon failed to make more of her sporadic appearances on ABC shows like Good Morning America.

One thing we can count on: Congdon will bounce back, perky as ever. She has a show in development for HBO — technically, according to HBO's advertising, that's "not television," so we don't know if that will count as a TV comeback. And she seems to have a burgeoning if ethically questionable career as a spokesblogger for advertisers like DuPont and American Express. The only question: Will anyone care? Or has her audience, like ABC, tired of her "experiments"?