American breakfast television program
The Early Show
is an American
morning television show
that aired on
CBS
from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program originally broadcast from the
General Motors Building
in
New York City
.
The Early Show
, like many of its predecessors, traditionally placed third in the ratings, behind
NBC
's
Today
and
ABC
's
Good Morning America
. Much like
Today
and its fellow NBC program
The Tonight Show
, the
Early Show
title was analogous to that of CBS's late-night talk show,
The Late Show
. Unlike CBS' other attempts at a morning news program (which emphasize hard news),
The Early Show
followed the format of its two other competitors, which have long used a lighter soft news, lifestyle and infotainment approach.
On November 15, 2011, CBS announced the cancellation of
The Early Show
, and replacement by a new morning program that
CBS News
chairman
Jeff Fager
and president David Rhodes stated would "redefine the morning television landscape."
The Early Show
ended its twelve-year run on January 7, 2012, replaced three days later on January 9 by the second version of
CBS This Morning
.
[1]
History of CBS's morning news shows
[
edit
]
The Morning Show
(1954)
[
edit
]
CBS' first attempt at a morning program debuted on March 15, 1954, with
The Morning Show
, originally hosted by
Walter Cronkite
and very similar in format to
Today
(which also ran for two hours from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time until it was reduced to one hour to accommodate the premiere of
Captain Kangaroo
in 1955). Additional hosts over the years included
Jack Paar
,
John Henry Faulk
and
Dick Van Dyke
. Paar, the most successful of them in drawing an audience, made significant changes in the tone of the program during his tenure as host, casting it into a talk program with some
infotainment
elements but featuring an emphasis on humor and conversation, reminiscent of the kind of morning radio show he had done prior to
World War II
. In 1956, Paar was moved from
The Morning Show
to his own late-morning talk program on the network, which aired after
Captain Kangaroo
. (Paar left CBS to take over
NBC
's
The Tonight Show
in 1957.)
Good Morning! with Will Rogers Jr.
and another
Morning Show
[
edit
]
Next came
Good Morning! with
Will Rogers Jr.
, which lasted for 14 months before being replaced in April 1957 by a different version of
The Morning Show
, a variety program hosted by
country music
singer
Jimmy Dean
, which ended that December after nine months. The 45-minute program aired at 7:00 a.m. Eastern Time; it was followed by a 15-minute news program, the
CBS Morning News
, anchored by
Richard C. Hottelet
, and later
Stuart Novins
, which led into
Captain Kangaroo
at 8:00 a.m.
[
citation needed
]
The CBS Morning News
(1963)
[
edit
]
CBS did not make any serious attempt to program against
Today
for eight years.
The CBS Morning News
debuted on September 2, 1963; the program was similar in style to its
CBS Evening News
counterpart in that it was also a hard news-focused program, featuring various hosts and correspondents from CBS News over the years. It debuted as a half-hour broadcast anchored by
Mike Wallace
, who joined the network that year, and aired Monday through Friday at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Coincidentally, it replaced the daytime magazine program
Calendar
, which was hosted by Wallace's future
60 Minutes
colleague
Harry Reasoner
.
In August 1965, CBS decided it could get better ratings by airing
reruns
of
I Love Lucy
in the 10:00 a.m. slot. The network moved the
Morning News
to 7:05 a.m. (although most affiliates carried it at 7:30 a.m. on tape delay). Wallace only lasted one more year after the move. Tired of the early wake-up time, he left the program to cover
Richard Nixon
's 1968 comeback presidential campaign for CBS News. Wallace suggested
Los Angeles
newsman
Joseph Benti
as his replacement.
[
citation needed
]
It was during Joseph Benti's run (through August 28, 1970) that the program became the first regularly scheduled one-hour newscast on network television on March 31, 1969. Until 1981, it preceded
Captain Kangaroo
on CBS's morning schedule from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The new hour-long format featured
John Hart
reading the news headlines from
Washington, D.C.
and CBS News
Moscow
correspondent
Hughes Rudd
as an occasional contributor. After Hart replaced Benti as the main anchor in New York City, the Washington anchor desk was assumed by
Bernard Kalb
until 1972, and by
Nelson Benton
for a year afterwards.
[
citation needed
]
On August 6, 1973, Hart was replaced (he eventually went to
NBC
). In an effort to emulate
Today
, which had
Barbara Walters
as a co-anchor, Rudd was teamed up with former
The Washington Post
reporter
Sally Quinn
. Unfortunately for CBS, within days, the hugely publicized pairing of what was dubbed by the press as "the beauty and the grouch" (respectively referring to Quinn and Rudd) turned out to be a disaster.
[
citation needed
]
Quinn was gone after six months, leaving after the February 1, 1974 telecast. A more experienced correspondent,
Bruce Morton
, later took over the Washington desk, remaining there until 1977. During that period, the newscast evolved into a straightforward delivery of the morning news, much like Cronkite's evening newscast. Despite the anchor turnover through the years, the broadcast set a consistent tone which emphasized news and ideas over celebrity gossip or self-help tips. The latest news bureau of CBS News Washington correspondent
Barry Serafin
. The anchor desk was subsequently shared by the team of
Lesley Stahl
and
Richard Threlkeld
, while Morton and Rudd returned to provide feature reports and commentary.
[
citation needed
]
The
Morning
(1979)
[
edit
]
On Sunday, January 28, 1979, CBS revamped the program, premiering
Morning
, which was titled in accordance to the day of the week (
Monday Morning
,
Tuesday Morning
, etc.). The weekday
Morning
series competed with
Good Morning America
and
Today
.
Charles Kuralt
hosted Sundays, while
Bob Schieffer
hosted the rest of the week; Kuralt took over the daily broadcasts as well starting on October 27, 1980. The program featured long-form pieces from CBS News bureaus, and many viewed it as a highbrow, classy newscast in the best CBS tradition.
[
citation needed
]
Despite critical acclaim, the program remained dead last in the
ratings
, and CBS was under more pressure from affiliates to present a more viable morning competitor. So on September 28, 1981,
Morning
dropped the days of the week from its title (except for
CBS News Sunday Morning
), was extended to 90 minutes and added
Diane Sawyer
as co-host; in the process,
Captain Kangaroo
was reduced to a half-hour daily and pushed to an earlier time period (7:00 a.m.).
[
citation needed
]
The CBS Morning News
(1982)
[
edit
]
On January 18, 1982, again at the expense of
Captain Kangaroo
,
Morning
was expanded to the same two-hour format that
Today
and
GMA
were utilizing. Along the way it reassumed the title of
The CBS Morning News
(not to be confused with CBS's earlier morning newscast, the
CBS Early Morning News
, later retitled as the
CBS Morning News
). Kuralt was replaced on the weekday broadcasts on March 15, 1982. By this time management decided that morning news programming should be more competitive and hired
Bill Kurtis
, anchor of the highly rated evening newscasts at
WBBM-TV
in
Chicago
, as Sawyer's co-host.
[2]
The Sunday edition of
Morning
, with Kuralt as host, was kept; it remains on the air under its original title,
CBS News Sunday Morning
(now hosted by
Jane Pauley
).
By the fall of 1982,
Captain Kangaroo
had disappeared from the daily schedule, and the new team of Kurtis and Sawyer were anchoring three hours of news in the morning, as they were also seen on the
CBS Early Morning News
an hour earlier.
[3]
Their teamwork helped boost the program's ratings, albeit briefly; George Merlis, a former
Good Morning America
producer hired to revamp the broadcast, is also credited by most network insiders with nearly doubling viewership numbers for
The CBS Morning News
by March 1983. The numbers continued to climb during the summer; during one week in August 1983, it passed
Today
for the second place spot behind
GMA
, and was in closing distance behind the latter program for the #1 spot before it dropped back to third place again. After Merlis was relieved from his duties for his trouble, Sawyer, tired of the morning grind, left in the fall of 1984 to become the first female correspondent on
60 Minutes
.
[
citation needed
]
CBS News correspondents
Jane Wallace
and
Meredith Vieira
briefly alternated as interim co-host in an on-air try-out that lasted several months, but both were passed over for the permanent spot. Instead, CBS settled for former
Miss America
and
The NFL Today
co-host
Phyllis George
, who was given a three-year contract following a mere two-week trial run.
[4]
There was little chemistry between George and Kurtis onscreen and the show fared poorly.
[
citation needed
]
The lowest point of her very brief tenure came on May 14, 1985, during George's interview with false rape accuser
Cathleen Mae Webb
and the man whom she had falsely accused,
[5]
Gary Dotson
. In an effort to get the two to make amends to each other, George made a simple suggestion: "How about a hug?" Both Webb and Dotson graciously refused. That infamous interview alienated audiences and was blasted by critics,
[5]
[6]
helping to put an unpleasant close to George's television career at this initial mark. A very unhappy Bill Kurtis subsequently departed from the program and resigned from CBS News in July, returning to Chicago and his former anchor spot at WBBM-TV. Once again, Bob Schieffer served as a brief replacement. Phyllis George eventually left CBS for good that fall.
[
citation needed
]
Maria Shriver
, who had joined CBS as a West Coast feature reporter in 1983, and
Forrest Sawyer
, new to the network, were named co-anchors
[7]
of
The CBS Morning News
on August 30, 1985. After a respectable year albeit still placing third in the ratings, Shriver and Sawyer made their last appearance on the program on August 1, 1986, after CBS announced that it was ceding the early morning time slot from the news division to a newly created unit in the CBS Broadcast Group.
[8]
Prodded by network affiliates, CBS decided that an entertainment format might work better against
Good Morning America
and
Today
, and planning began for a new show that would come to be called
The Morning Program
.
[9]
Bruce Morton
and
Faith Daniels
became the first in a string of substitutes to host
Morning News
until it left the air.
[10]
In an August 1986
Newsweek
article, columnist
Jonathan Alter
wrote regarding the move, "
The CBS Morning News
was simply shot dead. Underappreciated co-anchors Forrest Sawyer and Maria Shriver left the air with a classy farewell after the network's announcement that the perennially lagging show would be canceled by the end of the year."
[11]
Tom Shales
reported in
The Washington Post
, "throughout the industry there is shock and derision for the way CBS has handled [the]
Morning News,
so long its problem child. Competitors are saying the
Morning News
fiasco is a symptom of a new disarray in CBS News, and some question whether current CBS News executives will all be able to ride out the storm."
[12]
The Morning Program
(1987)
[
edit
]
On January 12, 1987,
The Morning Program
made its debut
[13]
hosted by actress
Mariette Hartley
and
Rolland Smith
, former longtime anchor at
WCBS-TV
in New York City. Radio personality
Mark McEwen
handled the weather, while comedian
Bob Saget
did comedy bits. Produced by a newly created division, the show ran for 90 minutes (7:30 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific, 6:30 to 8:00 a.m. Central and Mountain) behind a briefly expanded 90-minute
CBS Early Morning News
broadcast (6:00 to 7:30 a.m. local; although most larger-market affiliates pre-empted all or part of the 6:00 a.m. hour to carry a locally produced morning newscast), which had dropped "Early" from its title.
However,
The Morning Program
, with its awkward mix of news, entertainment and comedy, became the joke of the industry, receiving scathing reviews; Hartley in particular was panned by critics.
[14]
[15]
[16]
At one point, it generated a mere 10 percent share, the lowest ratings that CBS had seen in the morning slot in five years. The show was also dragging down ratings for the syndicated programming that most affiliates aired in the 9:00 Eastern and Pacific/8:00 Central and Mountain slot, and many of them were threatening to preempt the show unless changes were made (for instance, CBS affiliate
KKTV
in
Colorado Springs, Colorado
replaced the morning block with syndicated cartoon programming). Finally, CBS canceled the show and returned the time slot to the news division after a 10½-month run. Hartley and Smith were dumped (the former departed the program two weeks early and was replaced by
Sandy Hill
, who had formerly co-hosted
Good Morning America
[17]
), while Saget left to star on the ABC sitcom
Full House
. A longtime producer summed up this version of the program upon its demise by saying, "...everyone thought we had the lowest ratings you could have in the morning.
The Morning Program
proved us wrong".
[16]
CBS This Morning
(1987)
[
edit
]
On November 30, 1987,
The Morning Program
was replaced by the original
CBS This Morning
. It lasted for twelve years, staying in third place for its entire run. However, it was far more competitive than its predecessors had ever been (with the aforementioned KKTV, after previously dropping
The Morning Program
, beginning to air
CBS This Morning
in early 1989).
[
citation needed
]
It ended on October 29, 1999 and was replaced by
The Early Show
. In 2012, the second iteration of
CBS This Morning
replaced
The Early Show
. Plans were announced for the show to be renamed
CBS Mornings
to emulate the Sunday edition. This latest version of the program began in September 2021.
[18]
History
[
edit
]
Gumbel, Clayson, McEwen and Chen (November 1, 1999?2002)
[
edit
]
The Early Show
began on November 1, 1999 (around the time when
Viacom
, a former CBS division, had purchased the network) when CBS executives successfully lured former
Today
host
Bryant Gumbel
to head up the broadcast, teamed with
ABC News
correspondent
Jane Clayson
. Unlike with
This Morning
, CBS asked its affiliates to carry the two-hour program in its entirety.
Julie Chen
read the news, while
Mark McEwen
of
Live by Request
, the sole holdover from
CBS This Morning
, did the weather. Initial ratings were not encouraging, and were actually lower than those of
CBS This Morning
.
[19]
[20]
Gumbel left on May 17, 2002,
[21]
and shortly thereafter Clayson and McEwen were replaced.
Clayson may be best known for her awkward confrontation with
Early Show
food and style contributor
Martha Stewart
during this period; Stewart was involved in the
ImClone stock trading case
, but retained her
Early Show
contributor duties during the initial stages of the controversy. CBS required Stewart to address the issue as a condition of keeping those contributor duties. Stewart, upon consulting her legal team, agreed to take questions on-air, but not in a separate interview. As a result, during one of Stewart's usual live cooking segments (in June 2002), Clayson, who normally assisted Stewart with preparing the meal, asked her to comment on her involvement with ImClone and her selling of company stock just one day before an application for a new cancer drug developed by the pharmaceutical company was rejected by the
Food and Drug Administration
; a visibly uncomfortable Stewart, obsessively chopping vegetables for a salad, evaded Clayson's questions, citing her inability to comment on an ongoing investigation (Stewart was indicted in 2003, tried and convicted in 2004, and served five months in federal prison for her involvement in the case).
[22]
[23]
Stewart stopped contributing to the program after the appearance, which was immortalized in an
NBC
TV-movie of Stewart's life
that aired a few months later (with
Cybill Shepherd
playing the role of Stewart).
Smith, Storm, Chen, Syler and Price (October 2002?December 2006)
[
edit
]
On October 28, 2002,
The Early Show
overhauled its hosting staff. The new team consisted of Chen,
Harry Smith
(former host of
Biography
and
CBS This Morning
),
Hannah Storm
(former commentator for
NBC Sports
),
Rene Syler
(who joined the program after serving as a news anchor at CBS'
owned-and-operated station
KTVT
in
Dallas
), and
weatherman
Dave Price
(joining the program after a run as a morning meteorologist at New York City Fox O&O
WNYW
), who also worked at WCBS-TV for some time after joining
The Early Show
. To keep affiliates happy, CBS went back to the local/national hybrid format originated on
CBS This Morning
in 1997.
[24]
The program also had a number of "correspondents" who conducted short segments on specific issues, including
Martha Stewart
(until not long after the aforementioned segment with Jane Clayson),
Martha Quinn
,
Bobby Flay
and
Bob Vila
, among others. In 2004, Susan Koeppen became the program's consumer correspondent.
On October 30, 2006,
The Early Show
received a revamp, featuring new graphics (with a new blue and orange color scheme instead of blue and yellow) and music similar to that used on the
CBS Evening News
(which were also rolled out on
Up to the Minute
and the
CBS Morning News
in early October). On December 4, 2006, it was announced that Rene Syler would leave the show by the end of the month; her last show was December 22, 2006.
Smith, Storm, Chen, Mitchell, and Price (December 2006?December 2007)
[
edit
]
On December 7, 2006, CBS News named
Russ Mitchell
(who had been co-anchor of the program's Saturday edition since its inception as
CBS News Saturday Morning
in 1997) as the news anchor for the program starting January 2, 2007. On November 28, 2007, it was announced that Hannah Storm was leaving as the program's co-anchor; her last day was December 7, 2007.
Smith, Rodriguez, Chen, Mitchell and Price (January 2008?January 2010)
[
edit
]
On December 5, 2007, CBS announced that
Maggie Rodriguez
(who had joined the program earlier that year as anchor of its Saturday edition) would succeed Storm as co-anchor. During that month, the
CBS Evening News
shared its studio/set with
The Early Show
.
The Early Show
itself debuted a new set on January 7, 2008, when it also abandoned the aforementioned local/national hybrid format, opting to require its stations carry the entire two-hour broadcast. Ratings for
The Early Show
dropped with the institution of these changes. However, the gap between the program and second-place
Good Morning America
remained virtually consistent as all three morning shows saw similar ratings erosion.
[25]
On April 16,
The Early Show
scored a coup with the broadcast of a live musical performance by
Susan Boyle
.
The Early Show
enjoyed a relatively successful May sweeps, racking up a 5% increase in total viewership year-to-year while remaining flat in the 25-to-54-year-old demographic, at a time when both
Today
and
Good Morning America
were shedding viewers to the tune of 3 and 4% respectively.
[26]
[27]
Howard Kurtz's
Washington Post
profile of CBS
Early Show
co-host Maggie Rodriguez said her addition to the program accounts for "an uptick in the ratings, lifting spirits at the broadcast". Rodriguez landed some high-profile interviews with the grandparents of Caylee Anthony, Levi Johnston, and disgraced former Roman Catholic priest
Alberto Cutie
, who later became an Episcopal minister. Rodriguez stated that "If [I] were to program a show for my viewing pleasure, I would make it all news ...[B]ut we're programming for all of America. We have to include
Jon
and
Kate
? regardless of whether I personally care, they're on the cover of every magazine. You can't be so highbrow that you only cover hard news. I'm not a journalistic snob." In addition to her duties on the morning show, Rodriguez regularly filled in for
Katie Couric
on the
CBS Evening News
.
[28]
On January 13, 2010, CBS announced that news anchor Russ Mitchell would exit
The Early Show
at the end of the week, leaving a gap in the program's anchor lineup. He became the national correspondent for CBS and would remain as anchor of the Sunday edition of the
CBS Evening News
.
[
citation needed
]
Around this time, Koeppen left
The Early Show
to become a primary news anchor for CBS-owned
KDKA-TV
in
Pittsburgh
; her spot as consumer correspondent was not replaced.
Smith, Rodriguez, Chen, Hill and Price (January?December 2010)
[
edit
]
In January 2010,
Erica Hill
became the program's news update anchor, joining Smith, Rodriguez, Price and now features correspondent Chen.
The Early Show
became the last morning network news/talk program to begin broadcasting in
high definition
on April 26, 2010. The
Evening News
control room was to be used to base the program, as construction was under way for a new control room for
The Early Show
at the General Motors Building.
[29]
New graphics were now overlaid to accommodate added screen space, and were also used throughout other CBS News programs.
Wragge, Hill, Chen, Glor and Castro (January?September 2011)
[
edit
]
Smith, Price and Rodriguez were fired from the program in December 2010. Erica Hill and
Chris Wragge
(who previously anchored the Saturday edition) were appointed as anchors of the weekday
Early Show
on January 3, 2011.
Marysol Castro
was also added as a weather anchor, replacing Dave Price; while Julie Chen remained a part of the staff, presenting additional feature stories, with Jeff Glor taking Hill's spot as news anchor. Chen, the wife of CBS President & CEO
Les Moonves
, was the only one to stay with the program since its inception before leaving the full-time anchor position to become host of
The Talk
in late 2010; however, she remained with
The Early Show
as a special contributing anchor.
In March 2011, the program introduced a redesigned set, which included a new anchor desk backdrop, a new reporter area and a blue color scheme. On September 2, 2011, it was announced that Marysol Castro would be leaving her post as weather anchor effective immediately.
[30]
Wragge, Hill and Glor (September 2011?January 2012)
[
edit
]
After Castro's departure, the hosts had cut directly to local CBS affiliates to provide forecast cut-ins (with a narrated national outlook available to stations that did not provide cut-ins due to the absence of a news department), making CBS the only one of the three major broadcast morning shows without a national forecast segment.
[31]
In 2011, the program had begun focusing on hard news in contrast to the other network morning news programs, which show a mix of hard news, lighter news and
infotainment
. Coverage consisted of national and international news, including occasional town halls with political leaders and in-depth coverage of major events.
[32]
Cancellation and final broadcast
[
edit
]
On November 15, 2011, CBS News announced
The Early Show
would be cancelled, and replaced by a new hard news and interview-focused program on January 9, 2012.
[33]
The new program's title was announced on December 1, as
CBS This Morning
.
[1]
Erica Hill was the only holdover from
The Early Show
that became part of the new program, joined by
Charlie Rose
and
Gayle King
; Hill was replaced by then-CBS News Washington D.C. correspondent
Norah O'Donnell
in July 2012 (Hill subsequently became a co-anchor of the
weekend edition
of
Today
).
Chris Wragge returned to WCBS-TV as an anchor; originally co-anchoring on both WCBS' 6:00 p.m. newscast and sister station
WLNY-TV
's 9:00 p.m. newscast, before being moved to WCBS' weekday morning and noon newscasts in 2013.
[34]
Jeff Glor now appears on
CBS This Morning
as a special correspondent, and became the Sunday evening
CBS Evening News
anchor on January 15, 2012 following Russ Mitchell's departure to become the lead anchor at
WKYC-TV
in
Cleveland
.
The final edition of
The Early Show
aired on January 7, 2012, with that week's final Saturday edition being broadcast from the set of the
CBS Evening News
at CBS Broadcast Center, anchored by
Rebecca Jarvis
, news anchor
Betty Nguyen
and weather anchor
Lonnie Quinn
.
On-air staff
[
edit
]
Anchors
[
edit
]
News anchors
[
edit
]
Weather anchors
[
edit
]
Saturday edition
[
edit
]
Alongside the relaunch of the weekday program as
The Early Show
,
CBS News Saturday Morning
, which had debuted in 1997, was also relocated to the General Motors Building and renamed
The Saturday Early Show
. In 2008, the title of the Saturday program was shortened to
The Early Show
, fully in line with the weekday program. Anchors of the Saturday edition during this era included
Russ Mitchell
(1999-2007 and 2011),
Thalia Assuras
(1999?2002),
Gretchen Carlson
(2002?2005),
Tracy Smith
(2005?2007),
Chris Wragge
and
Erica Hill
(both 2008-10), and
Rebecca Jarvis
(2010 and 2011?12), alongside weather anchors
Ira Joe Fisher
(1999-2006) and
Lonnie Quinn
(2006?12).
Unlike its competitors
Today
and
Good Morning America
,
The Early Show
did not have a Sunday edition, due to the continued success of
CBS News Sunday Morning
, which maintained a distinct newsmagazine format with long-form feature reports and in-depth interview segments.
Ratings
[
edit
]
CBS has been the perennial third-place finisher in the morning race since 1976, placing second only a few times in the past 30 years. CBS surpassed ABC's
Good Morning America
for second place during the weeks of January 17, 1977 and December 28, 1998, running behind first-place
Today
which was in first place both times. However,
The CBS Morning News
outrated
Today
, then often in second place (with
Good Morning America
in first), for a few weeks in 1984 while
Today
co-host
Jane Pauley
was on maternity leave.
[35]
In September 2007, CBS sought to get
The Early Show
out of the ratings basement by hiring Shelley Ross, who previously served as
executive producer
of
Good Morning America
from 1999 to 2004. Significant changes were made to the program as Ross asserted her influence; on January 7, 2008, the network began requiring affiliates to air the program in its entirety, ending the local-national hybrid format and restricting the local news inserts to :25 and :55 minutes past the hour.
[36]
CBS reportedly viewed the removal of those breaks as vital to creating a national profile for the program.
However, some CBS affiliates continued to air the entire program on a sister station in order to continue to airing a locally produced morning newscast during
The Early Show
'
s timeslot;
WWL-TV
in
New Orleans
never aired
The Early Show
, any of its previous versions or its successor
CBS This Morning
, opting to instead air the final two hours of its
Eyewitness Morning News
broadcast from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. instead; however after former owner
Belo
acquired that station in 2007,
The Early Show
began airing in New Orleans on
MyNetworkTV
affiliate
WUPL
.
WKRC-TV
in
Cincinnati
began airing the full two-hour
Early Show
broadcast, while moving the third hour of its local morning newscast to the station's
CW
-affiliated subchannel.
Salt Lake City
's
KUTV
(which was formerly owned by the network until 2007) continued to preempt the program's first hour despite the network's insistence.
KOTV
in
Tulsa
and
WFMY
in
Greensboro, North Carolina
began airing the program in its entirety on a one-hour delay at 8:00 a.m. to accommodate a 7:00 a.m. hour of their local newscasts (in the case of KOTV, it chose to move the 8:00 a.m. hour of its morning newscast to its CW-affiliated sister station
KQCW
to comply with the new requirements).
Industry insiders considered Shelley Ross' influence to be a serious threat to raising the profile of the program to turn it into a true competitor to NBC's
Today
and ABC's
Good Morning America
. However, Ross was fired as executive producer after only six months, following frequent feuds with staff (particularly Smith and Chen), who reportedly informed management that either Ross would have to go or they would resign on their own.
[37]
Despite the change in staff in 2011, the program remained mired in third place, with a total average viewership of around 2 to 2.5 million viewers per week.
[38]
The program also faced pressure from network management to take advantage of the redefining of CBS News as more of a hard news organization after the end of Katie Couric's tenure at the
CBS Evening News
, asking the program's staff to take advantage of stories presented on
60 Minutes
and the
CBS Evening News
and expand upon them on the morning program rather than following the lead of
Today
and
GMA
to the letter.
[39]
Theme music
[
edit
]
The debut theme for
The Early Show
was a typical opener for an American morning news program. Created by Chris Bowman, the song was called "Sunrise".
[40]
Bowman created two versions of the song that were used until 2002 when Bryant Gumbel left the show.
[41]
[42]
When the show reformatted with new hosts and set, an instrumental version of the same-titled track from
Sting
's
1999
hit album, "
Brand New Day
" until late October 2006, when it was replaced by a variant of the
James Horner
theme originally composed that year for the
CBS Evening News
. On January 7, 2008, as part of CBS's attempt to relaunch the show with new hosts and set, an updated version of Horner's composition was introduced; the theme was modified a number of times after the format change. On June 27, 2011,
The Early Show
began using a slower-tempoed version of the
CBS Evening News
theme by Trivers-Myers Music (the original version of which was first used on the evening news program from 1987 to 1991, before being revived in 2011 upon
Scott Pelley
taking over as anchor of the broadcast).
International broadcasts
[
edit
]
In Australia,
The Early Show
aired on
Network 10
on weekday mornings from 4.00 a.m. under the title "The CBS Early Show", with the Friday edition being held over to the following Monday. A national weather map of Australia was inserted during local affiliate weather cutaways; however, no local news segments were inserted into the broadcast. Unlike the
Seven Network
's airing of NBC's
Today
and the
Nine Network
's airing of
Good Morning America
,
The Early Show
was not condensed or edited for broadcast by Ten. It was, however, pre-empted in most regional areas in favor of paid and religious programming.
Awards
[
edit
]
In
2010
,
The Early Show
was nominated for a
GLAAD Media Award
for "Outstanding TV Journalism Segment" for the segment "Reverend's Revelation: Minister Speaks Out About Being Transgender".
[43]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"The New CBS News Morning Show Gets a Name: 'CBS This Morning'
"
.
TVNewser
.
Mediabistro.com
. December 1, 2011.
- ^
O'Connor, John J. (March 18, 1982).
"Tv: New Look for a Longer 'CBS Morning News'
"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
Bedell, Sally (June 26, 1982).
"Expansion of Morning News Forces 'Kangaroo' to Weekends"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"Phyllis George enjoys first day as co-anchor".
Milwaukee Sentinel
. January 15, 1985. p. 3.
- ^
a
b
Serrill, Michael S.; Lopez, Laura; Winbush, Don (May 27, 1985).
"Law: Cathy and Gary in Medialand"
.
Time
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on May 3, 2009.
- ^
Shales, Tom (May 16, 1985).
"Invitation to a Hug Phyllis George's Gaffe With Dotson & [Webb]"
.
The Washington Post
. Retrieved
May 17,
2020
.
- ^
Bedell Smith, Sally (August 31, 1985).
"Phyllis George Quits CBS Morning News"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
May 16,
2020
.
- ^
"Shriver, Sawyer Say Good-Bye".
Associated Press
. August 1, 1986.
- ^
John Carmody (September 29, 1987). "The TV Column".
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Mark Schwed (August 1, 1986). "Farewell for CBS Anchors".
United Press International
.
- ^
Jonathan Alter
(August 11, 1986). "Bad Days at Black Rock".
Newsweek
.
- ^
Tom Shales
(July 31, 1986). "On the Air; CBS and the Fallout Over 'Morning News'
".
The Washington Post
.
- ^
"Debut of 'Morning Program' on CBS"
.
The New York Times
. 13 January 1987.
- ^
"The Morning Program CBS; Weekdays, 7:30-9 a.m. EST"
.
Time
. Archived from
the original
on March 12, 2007.
- ^
Clifford Terry (January 15, 1987).
"
'Morning' Is a Real Yawner'
"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
April 4,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
"CBS cancels its latest breakfast-time flop"
.
Time
. Archived from
the original
on March 12, 2007.
- ^
Hartley Makes an Early Exit From CBS’ Ill-Fated ‘Morning Program’
Los Angeles Times
11 November 1987 (retrieved 13 January 2021)
- ^
"CBS News Unveils Morning Show Changes with New Name, Look and a Times Square Studio"
. 31 August 2021.
- ^
Elizabeth Jensen (May 5, 2000).
"
'Early Show' Ratings Ring an Alarm in Morning Lot"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
- ^
Bill Carter,
CBS's Morning News Show Loses Ground to Competitors
,
New York Times
(April 4, 2000).
- ^
"Gumbel leaving 'Early Show,' CBS"
.
CNN
. April 4, 2002.
- ^
"Inquiry is 'ridiculousness' / Stewart chops ImClone questions short on TV show"
.
Bloomberg
.
Houston Chronicle
. 2002
. Retrieved
July 1,
2012
.
- ^
"More 'Ridiculousness'
"
.
Newsweek
.
The Daily Beast
. 2002
. Retrieved
July 1,
2012
.
- ^
"Better Early Than Never"
.
TV Guide
. 2006. Archived from
the original
on May 22, 2006
. Retrieved
March 30,
2006
.
- ^
"Broadcast Morning News Ratings: July 14?18"
.
TV by the Numbers
.
Zap2It
(
Tribune Media
). July 24, 2008. Archived from
the original
on July 30, 2008
. Retrieved
July 26,
2008
.
- ^
"The Zen Art of Early Show's Zev Shalev"
.
New York Observer
. Observer.com. Archived from
the original
on June 19, 2009
. Retrieved
September 13,
2010
.
- ^
"Media Notes: Howard Kurtz on CBS 'Early Show' Co-Host Maggie Rodriguez"
.
The Washington Post
. July 13, 2009
. Retrieved
May 25,
2010
.
- ^
"Maggie Rodriguez filling in for Katie Couric"
.
TVNewser
. Mediabistro.com. Archived from
the original
on 2012-09-07.
- ^
Chris Ariens (April 20, 2010).
"CBS 'Early Show' to go HD Monday"
.
TVNewser
. Mediabistro.com
. Retrieved
September 13,
2010
.
- ^
"Marysol Castro to leave
The Early Show
"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. September 2, 2011.
- ^
Katherine Fung (September 2, 2011).
"Marysol Castro Leaving 'Early Show'
"
.
Huffington Post
.
- ^
Alessandra Stanley (October 7, 2011).
"
'The Early Show' on CBS Is Sober but Stronger"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"CBS News launching all-new morning broadcast"
.
CBS News
. November 15, 2011.
- ^
Chris Ariens (November 10, 2011).
"Charlie Rose, Gayle King to Headline New CBS Morning News"
.
TVNewser
. Mediabistro.com
. Retrieved
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2011
.
- ^
"Good Morning America' drops to third in ratings"
.
DodgeGlobe.com
. January 8, 1999.
- ^
"NewsChannel 5 This Morning From 7-8AM To Air On Cable Channel"
.
WTVF
.
Landmark Media Enterprises
.
- ^
Paul Gough (March 6, 2008).
"Shelly Ross fired from CBS Early Show"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
.
- ^
"
"Good Morning America" Posts Largest Weekly Total Viewing Audience in 4 Years ? Ratings"
.
TVbytheNumbers
.
Zap2It
(
Tribune Media
). March 17, 2011. Archived from
the original
on March 21, 2011
. Retrieved
October 23,
2013
.
- ^
Chris Ariens (April 18, 2011).
"David Rhodes memo to CBS 'Early Show': 'Let's get with it'
"
.
TVNewser
. Mediabistro.com
. Retrieved
June 27,
2011
.
- ^
"
"The Early Show" 1999 ? 2002 Theme"
.
Network News Music
. 1999-08-15
. Retrieved
2022-06-09
.
- ^
CBS The Early Show 1999 ? 2002 Theme (Version 1)
, retrieved
2022-06-09
- ^
CBS The Early Show 1999 ? 2002 Theme (Version 2)
, retrieved
2022-06-09
- ^
"21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards ? English Language Nominees"
.
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
. 2010
. Retrieved
February 21,
2010
.
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