February 2012
2 posts
How much did it cost CBS to cancel 'The Early...
Nearly $40 million, the company’s fourth quarter earnings report indicates:
The company took a $46 million restructuring charge, mostly because of a revamp of “The Early Show,” the CBS network’s struggling morning show.
The network laid off nearly two dozen staff members and moved out of a street-side studio on Fifth Avenue in New York City; the replacement for “The Early Show,” called...
January 2012
35 posts
WatchThe first half-hour of the first-ever “Today” show, on Jan. 14, 1952. Amazing. (Via Hulu)
Year 61 starts Monday.
--@Studio1ADon on Twitter, after Friday's 60th anniversary celebration on "Today."
WatchA bit of video I recorded outside on the “Today” show plaza as the cast and crew gathered for a group photo on Friday morning.
WatchGenerations of anchors of the “Today” show, reintroducing themselves on Friday morning’s 60th anniversary broadcast.
I'm on @todayshow plaza w/ fans. Just interviewed a mom & daughter who took a red-eye from Salt Lake City to be here on the 60th birthday.
--One of my tweets on Friday.
Slideshow of photos from the "Today" 60th... →
At #Todayat60 party - like a great college reunion.
But where's the keg??
--@tombrokaw
“After nearly 60 years and countless overlooked knockoffs of the morning-show...”
– —Frazier Moore’s review for The Associated Press.
'CBS This Morning' Premiere Posts Modest Ratings... →
“It’s an incredible priority for us to topple the ‘Today’ show. And I...”
– The ABC News president Ben Sherwood, speaking to reporters at the TV press tour on Monday, via the New York Daily News
Stephanopoulos: 'a machine'
Ben Sherwood’s comments to TV reporters about George Stephanopoulos juggling “GMA” and “This Week,” via the Washington Post:
…And yes, Stephanopoulos will continue to appear weekdays on “GMA” while returning to his Sunday gig because he’s “a machine” and, “left to his own devices, would work seven days a week, nonstop.”
“Our goal,” Sherwood said, it to make sure...
Taking a stop-watch to the three morning shows... →
Media Decoder: Here’s how NBC, ABC and CBS differed on the first day of “CBS This Morning.”
"The ‘Today’ Show Producer on Keeping Matt Lauer... →
An “as-told-to” feature in New York magazine. An excerpt:
“Matt has, sort of, I don’t want to describe it as highbrow, but sensitivity about his journalistic credentials. He only wants to go after what he perceives as really important stories. Did he want to do Kim Kardashian filing for divorce? Absolutely not. He hates the seedy, gossipy stuff—but he has to do it.”
Another CBS hire: Lee M. Woodruff's becoming a contributor to "CBS This Morning." Her husband Bob is an ABC correspondent. --@brianstelter
WatchSomeone dialed the wrong phone number on CNN’s “Early Start” this morning… and the result was a must-see.
“All due respect to the people who worked hard on ‘The Early Show,’...”
– David Rhodes, president of CBS News, on the transition to “CBS This Morning”
For ‘CBS This Morning,’ Showtime Has Arrived →
My short story in Monday’s New York Times:
It is exceedingly rare for a new television newscast to be made almost entirely from scratch, as is the case with “CBS This Morning,” which will replace “The Early Show” on Monday morning.
Many of the producers and talent bookers for “CBS This Morning” are new to the network, as are two of the three anchors, Charlie Rose and Gayle King. The anchors...
Why Scarborough didn't go to CBS
Joe and Mika were very, very close to jumping to CBS. Why’d they stay at MSNBC? Here’s what they told TV critics over the weekend, according to the N.Y. Daily News:
PASADENA - TV host Joe Scarborough says what finally convinced him to keep his “Morning Joe” program on MSNBC last year was a talk with his cohost Mika Brzezinski’s father.
Scarborough told TV critics here...
"Premature"
“The No. 1 priority is Matt on the ‘Today’ show.”
That’s what the NBC Entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt told reporters Friday in Los Angeles, where he was answering questions about the twice-a-year TV press tour.
Bill Carter of The New York Times reports:
Mr. Greenblatt called Ryan Seacrest, the “American Idol” host, a crucial “piece of talent” for the...
Matt Lauer's 15th anniversary
On Friday, “Today” marked Matt Lauer’s 15 years on the show. Today.com posted 15 highlights of his tenure here…
After more than 6 months, back to the 4am wake-up call. #realtimerehearsals --@chrislicht, the producer of the new CBS morning show, on Jan. 4, the first day that the show was rehearsed at 7 a.m. as if it were live.
“He seemed more comfortable in the role of morning show host than I might have...”
–
—Glynnis MacNicol’s impression of Charlie Rose after coming on a rehearsal of “CBS This Morning” on Monday, seven days before the show’s premiere.
She added, “It’s funny to see Charlie Rose against a not-black backdrop.”
“We’ve inherited that key, hard-to-put-your-finger-on thing of which team...”
– James Goldston, the producer of “Good Morning America,” to the A.P.
Something new coming to morning TV shows →
An Associated Press story previewing the new state of play in the mornings…
December 2011
11 posts
"Are you something of a morning person, Ryan?"
Ryan Seacrest has been in talks for a role on NBC’s “Today” show. But on Friday he had to appear on NBC’s arch rival, ABC’s “Good Morning America,” to promote that network’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” And “GMA” couldn’t let him go without asking him, indirectly, about “Today.”
:::
“Look,...
Watch“This is my bucket list!”
A ping-pong face-off on “Today:” Matt Lauer vs. Bruce Huffman, an 87-year-old YouTube star. The helmet webcam is a nice touch.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it looks like Bruce beats Matt?
Here’s the complete segment…
& here’s my blog about morning TV. It’s a scrapbook for my forthcoming book, The Top Of The...
CNN sets premiere date for new morning show →
CNN is using the Iowa caucus to introduce its new morning team. On Tuesday, Jan. 3, Ashleigh Banfield and Zoraida Sambolin will start their new 5 to 7 a.m. shift, and Soledad O’Brien will start her new 7 to 9 a.m. shift.
I was supposed to interview Ryan Seacrest...
…for a story about “New Year’s Rockin Eve.” The interview was pitched by a publicist for the show.
A few days after the “Today” show stories surfaced, the publicist said it turned out that he wasn’t available for an interview.
Maybe a coincidence. (But probably not.)
George Stephanopoulos will return as anchor of "This Week," pulling double duty on "GMA." --@brianstelter, Dec. 13, 2011
A very sweet sixteen at @NBCNews today: the news division will announce that the @TodayShow has reached 16 years at No. 1. --@brianstelter, Dec. 11, 2011
The new Rose/King/Hill CBS morning show will be called..."CBS This Morning." (That's what the A.M. hours were called in the 1990s, too.) --@brianstelter, Dec. 11, 2011
An 'apprenticeship' for Ryan Seacrest?
NYT, Dec. 9, 2011:
In July, six months after Comcast gained control of NBC, Mr. Seacrest made a much-noticed appearance on “Today” to discuss one of his charities. He is expected to step up those appearances soon as an occasional co-host of the 9 a.m. hour of the program, which has a lighter tone than the earlier hours.
One of the people with knowledge of the negotiations described the...
To Keep Seacrest, Comcast May Set Its Crown Jewel... →
—New York Times, Dec. 9, 2011
My attempt to match the WSJ story and add to it.
Incidentally, this headline — written by an NYT copy editor — is one of my favorites of the year.
NBC Courts Seacrest for 'Today' →
—Wall Street Journal, Dec. 8, 2011
November 2011
10 posts
A fifth hour of "Today," at 2 a.m.
NYT, Nov. 28, 2011:
This fall, NBC quietly started to repeat the fourth hour of the “Today” show, starring Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb and usually seen at 10 a.m., the next day at 2 a.m.
Ms. Gifford and Ms. Kotb, of course, are known to share a drink on the air on a regular basis, perhaps making their show well-suited for a repeat after last call.
Actually, it had nothing to do with alcohol...
