Once known as the hard-news-in-the-morning network alternative to the news/entertainment mix favored by NBC's Today show and ABC's Good Morning Americaâ€" and perennially known as the third-place-in-the-morning laggard â€" CBS had tried to outflank its rivals by out-softing them with The Early Show.
That show went nowhere and, as of this morning, it's gone, dumped in favor of a back-to-basics CBS This Morning, which shares a name with the program The Early Show replaced.
Welcome back, This Morning< /a>. It feels like you never left. Which in TV terms, is not entirely a compliment.
Certainly the set is new. The show opened with its disparate trio of hosts â€"Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill (the only Early Show holdover) â€" sitting around a see-through round table placed in the center of an exposed-brick newsroom. It's all big screens and hard surfaces and electronic clutter, as if the show were shouting, "If you want comfy in the morning, look elsewhere."
Still, if the set screams for attention, the show doesn't, or at least it didn't in its debut. Indeed, it's almost hard to imagine a show led by Rose raising its voice at all; even when he inter rupts, he does it so softly, you almost have to lean into the screen to hear him. It's not for nothing that presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, Rose's first interview subject, branded his earlier "purely ideas" campaign approach "almost a Charlie Rose-style campaign."
Whether that style will appeal to you depends on personal taste. For some, Rose will be the morning-show equivalent to waking to soft music, a gentle way to ease into the morning. For others, he'll be an incentive to roll over and go back to sleep.
King is a brasher presence, but after greeting viewers with the other two hosts, she was banished until the second hour except for a brief, odd, glassed-in appearance to preview her upcoming segments. Banished as well into the second hour were any entertainment stories; the first hour focusing on New Hampshire, a new book about the Obamas, a follow-up on Scott Pelley's 60 Minutes stem cell story, and a negative look by Armen Keteyian at the "BCS mess." And yes, on that last story, you are free to wonder whether CBS' approach would have been quite so harsh if it had been broadcasting the BCS Championship Game Monday.
Aside from the absence of entertainment stories (a banishment that is unlikely to last, as CBS has always been just as fond of big stars , and of providing a morning promo-forum for its dumped reality contestants, as ABC and NBC), what viewers may have noticed most was the absence of the traditional quartet-completing weather person. Though if you did notice, it's hard to imagine you felt the loss.
Where the first hour was low key and almost completely, blissfully banter-free, the tone changed when King returned in the second hour. With her came a report on Kate Middleton's 30th birthday, an interview with CBS star Julianna Margulies (done by all three anchors), and a View-type conversation among Melissa Etheridge, King and Hill - along with the increased energy level King brings into the room. Other aspects of the debut may have bored some viewers, but King is the only participant who is li kely to either enchant or annoy. And if you found her to be too much, hold on, because odds are she'll become less restrained as the weeks roll by, not more.
If there was nothing particularly novel about This Morning's debut, it does already seem to be an improvement on The Early Show, and that may be all the premiere has to accomplish. At the moment, it's probably not enough of a boost to lure loyal and happy viewers away from its competitors, but anyone unhappy with the current lineups at Today or GMA should consider giving This Morning a try.
It's hardly the most exciting show on TV â€" but at 7 in the morning, excitement isn't what everyone wants. Or at least that's what CBS seems to think.
We'll see if CBS is right.
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