New 'Morning' for CBS; WOW! we might get some real news for a change

CBS’ New Wake-Up Show: A Little Evening News in the Morning
By James Poniewozik
January 9, 2012

CBS News debuts its new morning program CBS This Morning on Monday, January 9, 2012 with Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill .

The different hours of network morning programs can be, essentially, two different shows (or in NBC’s case, four): the first one a news-based hour, the later, a package of features. But the two hours of the new CBS This Morning, headed by Charlie Rose and Gayle King, respectively, are almost literally night and day.

Part of the difference is the sharp difference in focus in the hours: Rose’s on hard news and 60 Minutes investigations, King’s on celebrity news and pop-culture interviews. And part of it is simply the difference between the hosts. King has a brighter demeanor and came on her first show wearing what she said was her favorite color, mustard yellow. (Introduced by Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love,” a reference, I’m guessing, to the singer’s new baby and not a comment on the host.) Rose wore his standard business suit and hooded cocktail-hour gaze and is ineffably associated with the wee hours from his years in PBS late-night; it feels like the light must automatically dim 25% when he walks into a room.

The first hour is in some ways conventional network news, but so far it’s the more distinct one compared with Today and Good Morning America. Essentially, CBS is betting that there’s a market niche for viewers looking for an evening newscast in the morning. Certainly it makes sense for CBS to try to leverage 60 Minutes, its one news property that still dominates after four decades. But a heavily news-and-politics hour presented by the ever-so-dry Rose—joined by the likes of Scott Pelley and Bob Schieffer—will be a switch, like asking viewers to wake up with a scotch rocks instead of coffee with cream and sugar.

The perennial drawback of having a much-anticipated news or talk show launch is that people judge you forever on the basis of your first show. Maybe the advantage of CBS This Morning starting out from so far in third place is that it’s far enough off the radar that people won’t rush to assess it.

So I’ll save judgment on whether CBS This Morning is a success. King’s hour especially, being much closer to the other morning second-halves, will depend on how her personality wears over time. (I also wonder whether the network will try to merge the hours more or less; this morning at least, King and Rose seemed to work more comfortably solo than as a team.) But at least the network is trying something besides a pure copy of Today and GMA. Anyone up for a stiff cocktail at 7 a.m.?

Read more: http://entertainment.time.com/2012/01/09/cbs-new-wake-up-show-a-little-evening-news-in-the-morning/#ixzz1jYIvuEwM

'CBS This Morning' Premiere Recap (VIDEO)
1/9/12

Monday marked the official debut of CBS' new morning show, "CBS This Morning."

CBS announced in November 2011 that the network would replace "The Early Show" with a new program hosted by Charlie Rose, Gayle King, and former "Early Show" anchor, Erica Hill.

The network has been promoting the new show for months, playing up the fact that the program would be a departure from rivals "Today" and "Good Morning America."

The network boasted that "CBS This Morning" would include a hard news slant. Show creators also omitted somewhat peculiar morning show traditions, like crowds gathering outside the studio to cheer on a national weatherman, and hosts reporting news from an in-studio couch. The green room, which is behind glass walls in the corner of the studio, includes a large sofa.

The first hour, co-hosted by Rose and Hill, was comprised of stories including a package on the upcoming New Hampshire primary; a taped interview with GOP candidate Newt Gingrich; and a follow-up segment on Sunday's "60 Minutes" report on stem cell fraud. The hosts were seated around a glass table bearing the CBS Eye logo.

The second hour of the program included significantly lighter stories. Co-hosted by King and Hill, the hour opened with reports on Kate Middleton's 30th birthday celebration; Beyoncé giving birth to a baby girl; and a "Health Watch" segment on flu shots. The hour also included interviews with rock star Melissa Etheridge and CBS' "The Good Wife" star, Julianna Margulies.

At the close of the program, King, Rose, and Hill reflected on the past two hours. King said she felt as though it was the first day of school and hoped they received "good grades."

Watch segments from the first and second hours of "CBS This Morning" below.

Something new coming to morning television
By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer
January 2, 2012

NEW YORK — Within the first minute of the “CBS This Morning” launch next week, producer Chris Licht promises, viewers will see something completely new to morning television.

He’s keeping the details a surprise, other than to say it will be a quick and entertaining way to catch up with the world. Done well each day, Licht hopes it can become a calling card.

The new year looks to be pivotal for network morning shows. CBS and ABC’s “Good Morning America” are positioning themselves as distinct alternatives to the longtime king, NBC’s “Today” show, which faces uncertainty over anchor Matt Lauer’s future.

CBS is scrapping “The Early Show” on Jan. 9 in favor of a new broadcast anchored by Charlie Rose, Erica Hill and Gayle King and said it wants to be more substantive. “Good Morning America” is the fastest-growing program, emphasizing a breezy approach behind James Goldston, the producer who made “Nightline” a success in recent years.

“Good Morning America” was the last competitor to seriously challenge “Today,” which hasn’t lost a single week in the ratings since 1995. “Today” averaged 5.42 million viewers for its first two hours in 2011, up 1 percent from the year before, the Nielsen ratings company said. The “GMA” average of 4.85 million viewers was up 10 percent over 2010, while CBS’ “The Early Show” was down 7 percent to 2.55 million.

The ABC show was up 17 percent in Nielsen’s measurement of how many people watch its commercials, while the other two shows were down. “That’s a lot of money right there,” said Goldston, executive producer of “GMA.”

Efforts to make the show more engaging and creative have borne fruit, Goldston said. He believes viewers have also embraced the anchor team of George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts, and newcomers Josh Elliott and Lara Spencer.

“We’ve inherited that key, hard-to-put-your-finger-on thing of which team is having the most fun out there, and which team seems to get on best,” he said. “Right now, that’s our team. And I think that is very important on morning television.”

Goldston is a talented, stylish producer who has smoothly integrated Elliott and Spencer into the broadcast and managed the change to a different set, said a predecessor, Shelley Ross, former executive producer of both “Good Morning America” and “The Early Show.”

Ross questioned the preponderance of more entertainment-oriented segments in the ABC show’s second hour, where a story about whether royal sister Pippa Middleton inspired women to get butt implants got a lengthy examination.

So, apparently, did Roberts, who told Newsweek in November that “I want to be No. 1. I don’t want to sell my soul to the devil to be No. 1.” She said the show needed more hard news. “We give them a lot of candy right now.”

Goldston said Roberts’ remarks were made “entirely in jest.” Roberts also said in an email to The Associated Press that the “candy” comment was said jokingly. “It’s all about striking the right balance ... and I think we do a darn good job of doing that every morning.”

The producer said “Good Morning America” covers breaking news better than anyone.

“We make no apologies,” he said. “It has always been the case that the show develops and changes through the course of two hours. I think what’s important is that the show stays true to itself, that there’s a continuity of tone and approach, that we’re not asking the anchors to be different people at different points in the show. I think we’re being very true to that.”

ABC recently announced that Stephanopoulos, while keeping his weekday job at “Good Morning America,” will also return to his pre-”GMA” job as host of the Sunday-morning political talk show “This Week.” The network believes the dual roles will leave ABC well placed to get political stories during the election year.

Goldston, who wants to keep up the momentum on his show, won’t even publicly commit to giving Stephanopoulos a day off during the week so he can do “This Week.”

“He’s going to be working a lot,” he said.

There’s some question about whether ABC’s viewership gains are inflated due to a technical adjustment that affects Nielsen’s ratings. Although Nielsen is said to measure the entire two-hour show, in reality the ratings are for only the portion in which national advertisements are run. In May, ABC moved up the last of its national ads by about 10 minutes — meaning Nielsen’s average viewership figure cuts out 10 minutes when the audience is at its lowest.

ABC would not say whether this switch improved its ratings, but the network did point out that its viewership in the first quarter of 2011, before the change was made, was also up 10 percent.

Whatever the impact, there seems little doubt that ABC’s audience is growing. The same cannot be said at CBS, even though news executives have pushed “The Early Show” in a meatier direction over the past few months.

CBS has the opportunity to start clean on Jan. 9. The morning show gets a complete revamp, with a new studio, name and Licht, former producer of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”