So far, so good.
The new CBS This Morning — approximately the 312th change the network has made in the past decade — got off to a good start this morning. It wasn’t perfect — first shows rarely are — but it immediately set itself apart from Today and Good Morning America.
The biggest news, of course, is that we now get to see what Charlie Rose looks like under bright lights in the morning. If you watch him on a 60″, HD screen like I do, it’s a bit of a shock. But that’s a compliment! It’s like a real person is suddenly hosting a morning show; I like to see that. He’s an older, dry guy used to working on PBS at night, and it’s good to see him in the morning, with his special kind of speech, pace, and humor.
Of course, the whole “CBS now has hard news in the morning” hype is a little bit overblown. After all, they mentioned Beyonce and her baby three times in the first twenty minutes of the show, and they mentioned Kate Middleton three times in the first 45 minutes. It would be good if the first hour was truly, completely about the big news of the day and not “the big news of the day but we’re going to throw in these pop culture morsels because we know you’re interested in them too and can sit still for 15 minutes without hearing something about Beyonce, Kate Middleton, or Twitter.” I don’t want to hear Charlie Rose talking about Twitter and Beyonce. Leave that to Erica Hill and/or Gayle King in the second hour.
But the first hour is certainly on to something, and it would be good to see the whole show be more like that.
The second hour, where Gayle took over (though Charlie was there for most of it too — we’ll see if he continues to stick around for the whole second hour in the coming days and weeks) was more of a straight morning show in the style of Today or GMA, with more celebrities, more Royal Family news, more fashion. I guess we’re going to see that every day, but I beg Charlie to tell the producers that he doesn’t really want to talk about what clothes Kate Middleton is wearing (even if he wants to we don’t want to hear it from him). And please, no cooking segments with Charlie!
With the table and the various anchors and reporters coming and going it looks like they’re going for a mix of Today, GMA, and more than a dash of MSNBC’s Morning Joe. It would be good to see a show like Morning Joe on the broadcast networks, something serious but with a casual air too. CBS This Morning has the great brick and glass set, with video screens and CBS knick knacks on the shelves everywehere, and as the anchors sit around and talk there’s already an automatic casual air to the proceedings. There’s even a weird room in the back of the stuidio that looks like a combination green room and lunch/break room for the staff, with sofas and a TV and a bunch of food on the table. Melissa Etheridge stopped by for some reason and sat in that room while the show was going on and King even talked to her a bit to preview their interview later in the show. They should do more segments in that room, if only to see what CBS serves its guests in the morning.
It wasn’t a perfect debut, but I guess it’s kind of silly to do a wall to wall review of a live news/talk show when there’s been a total of one episode so far. But the first episode showed a lot of promise. The weird thing is that the reason why this works as a morning show is because Charlie, Gayle, and Erica (who I’ve decided to call by their first names for some reason I can’t quite explain) don’t all seem like they’re instantly made for a morning show, and the chemistry is great so far. Let’s just hope that the fluffy pop culture stuff doesn’t start to overwhelm the news stuff if the ratings aren’t where they want them to be.
And let’s hope Charlie gets enough sleep so he can still do both of his shows.
Clacked by Bob Sassone 
on Jan 09, 2012 @ 13:12 EST5EDT
I do not like this new team at all! Why did they change? Smh. I know some say give it time to sync, but I can’t stand another 15 minutes of it.There is no flow between them at all. I like the set but Charlie Rose is too old and his timing is off. Though I like Gayle King I don’t like her in this role. I used to watch CBS Morning show through the week but now I’m going to NBC Today show. I used to only watch NBC on the weekends, now they got me full time.
DO NOT LIKE HER IN THIS ROLE?, THIS IS NOT ACTING, BUT REPORTING, WHICH IS WHAT SHE WAS SCHOOLED FOR, AND FOR US ALL TO AGE I WOULDN’T BE SO HARD AND FAST TO SPEAK FOOLISH OF A PERSON FOR SOMETHING WE ARE ALL GOING TO FACE, AND DOES NOT MEAN WE DO NOT HAVE SELF WORTH NOR DO WE LOOSE INTELLIGENCE BECAUSE OF IT.
i THINK YOU ALL HIT A HOMER, I do like Charlie, Erica and Gayle, Sure didn’t expect to like it,even the set is great. Gayle is a little to talkative, but I like her confidence, Good Luck to all three of them. Twila McDougall
I MUST SAY I AM INDEED HAPPY TO FINALLY SEE A MORNING SHOW WITH INFORMATION AND NOT JUST ABOUT THE STARS, THEIR AFFAIRS, AND WITH WHOM THEY ARE SLEEPING WITH. I DO NOT THINK GAYLE TALK TO MUCH AS ANOTHER WROTE I LIKE TO SEE WOMEN LIKE HER MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD. CHARLEY’S EXPERIENCE ALONG WITH THE GAYLE AND ERICA, MAKES FOR A VERY INTELLIGENT AND INFORMATIVE VIEWING, IF AT FIRST THE RATING ISN’T OFF TO THE RACE IT WILL NOT BE FOR LACK OF TALENT AND INFORMATION, BUT BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE HAS BECOME SO MESMORIZED BY ALL THE “WHAT IS SHE WEARING, OR THESES CHEAP SO CALLED REALITY SHOWS,” THAT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT REALITY REALLY IS ANYMORE, I HOPE THE SHOW HAS A LONG RUN, AND WE MUST REMEMBER THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE USUALLY QUICK TO REPORT NEGATIVE RESPONSES ABOUT THIS SHOW AND OTHER SHOWS THAT’S BEEN CANCELLED BECAUSE OF ALL THE LOUD HOOP LA, ARE USUALLY THE FANS OF PEOPLE LIKE THAT RUSH GUY.