'CBS This Morning': A snooze button for those of us who roll out slowly - Washington Post

To no one’s surprise, Charlie Rose is no alarm clock, and “CBS This Morning,” the network’s umpteenth approach to the morning show format, is a gentle nudge. Lots of news in its first hour and remedial pop-culture chitchat, courtesy of Gayle King, in its second hour. And a third co-anchor, Erica Hill, bridging a gap labeled “etc.”

It will take some time for “CBS This Morning” to locate its proper place in the realm of TV’s crowded and buzz-addicted field of morning brew-haha, but it’s easy to predict that once that place is found, it still won’t be atop the ratings.

That’s not to say that “CBS This Morning’s” debut Monday morning was bad at all. It’s just that the daily morning slot is and may forever be CBS’s mysterious anemia. The network may dominate prime time, and it can still deliver a solid nightly newscast (courtesy of Scott Pelley); “60 Minutes” will never be equaled, and CBS has no problems with its late -night lineup (David Letterman, Craig Ferguson); it even possesses a rare jewel in “CBS Sunday Morning,” a “This American Life” for people well past their hipster years.

But weekday mornings just weren’t meant to sizzle here. It’s as if this was fatefully predetermined years ago, when they first started erecting transmitter towers. I wouldn’t blame CBS for one day deciding to let its success in other time slots speak for itself and just reboot Captain Kangaroo. (A job either Charlie Rose or Gayle King might also be interested in, though Rose is more of a Mr. Green Jeans.)

Acknowledging this state of affairs is a better solution than trying to deny it or eradicate it with marketing, which is how Rose got here â€" and he seemed happy enough on Monday to sit at a glass roundtable on “CBS This Morning’s” bricky new set, with its see-through green room and its restauranty vibe.

Rose’s voice and demeanor, which have for so long been a certain viewer’s idea of nightly televised melatonin, are just as pleasant to stir awake to â€" if not exactly encouraging you to jump out of bed. The first hour was an informative jog through New Hampshire and Tuesday’s Republican primary vote. Candidate Newt Gingrich beamed in (taped earlier? live? It was difficult to know) to swipe a bit more at Mitt Romney’s “pious baloney” (Sunday’s trending campaign jargon) and wish “CBS This Morning” all the success. “I know you’re going to do a tremendous job,” Gingrich told Rose.

Near the end of the news report, Pelley dropped by with addenda to his “60 Minutes” story that aired the night before, a startling and typically outrageous investigation into the phony stem-cell market.

Rose himself looked a little tired, chasing camera cues and shuffling papers, but who wouldn’t? I’ve been on the sets of morning shows and all of them feel a little like a packed bus filled with anchors and guests (and movie stars, and animals, and sautee pans!) careening off a cliff, even on a slow day. It’s hard to hold on for dear life and make meaningful small talk. At one point, teasing to a spot about Beyonce’s new baby, Rose said the blessed event “has been called a huge Twitter topic that Twitter friends have been tweeting.”

Continue Here...