Katie Couric to depart from CBS Evening News, so who should host next?

After nearly five years as the anchor for the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric officially announced today that she would be departing the program. Couric will reportedly be pursuing other projects, one of which may include a daytime talk show that she would co-host with her former Today Show cohort/Thanksgiving Day parade commentator Matt Lauer.

While we can’t wait to see what Couric does next (hey, if Gwyneth Paltrow can keep returning to Glee, she can, too!) we’re equally curious about who will take over her post on the Evening News. The rumored front-runners for the job include equally qualified newscasters like Scott Pelley, Harry Smith and Russ Mitchell, but who else could possibly be her successors?

CBS could continue to make history by having another respected female anchor take over, perhaps bringing in Christiane Amanpour or Ann Curry or Meredith Viera. Of course, in a perfect — albeit, fictional world — the gig would go to How I Met Your Mother‘s Robin Scherbatsky. She’s more than paid her dues!

Or maybe they could go by way of The Daily Show and have a stark raving mad voice of reason like Lewis Black deliver all the news of the day. If anyone were to better reflect the state of frustration with the world than that guy, we’d be hard-pressed to find one (plus, there’s never been an on-air Evening News conniption).

And, of course, they could always try to attract younger viewers by giving this poor soul a second chance.

So who would you like to see replace Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News? Vote in the poll below!