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The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City, 7 to 9 a.m. (8 to 9 a.m. in some markets with cut-ins during the 7 a.m. hour) (EST), Mondays through Fridays.
Before The Early Show
Various incarnations of the morning news have been broadcast by CBS since 1954. First came The Morning Show featuring various hosts and correspondents from CBS News such as Walter Cronkite and Jack Parr. The program was cancelled in 1957, but in 1963 CBS tried again with The CBS Morning News. It started out as a 25 minute broadcast, before expanding to an hour. It featured various hosts and correspondents from CBS News such as Mike Wallace, John Hart, Hughes Rudd, Sally Quinn, Bruce Morton, Lesley Stahl and Richard Therlkeld. On January 28, 1979 CBS revamped the program premiering Morning (Monday Morning, Tuesday Morning, etc), to compete with Good Morning America and The Today Show. It originally was an hour-long program, before extending to 90 minutes by 1981, and two hours a year later. It featured various hosts and correspondents from CBS News such as Charles Kuralt, Diane Sawyer, Bill Kurtis, Meredith Vieira, Bob Schieffer, Maria Shriver, and Phyllis George. It was never successful in the ratings, and CBS cancelled the program in 1987.
The show was moved from the news division and put under the entertainment division. On January 12, 1987 The Morning Program made its debut hosted by actress Mariette Hartley and New York newsman Rolland Smith. Mark McEwen handled the weather, while Bob Saget did comedy bits. The show never caught on, and the time slot was returned to the news division after ten months.
CBS This Morning made its debut in November 30, 1987, with hosts Harry Smith, Kathleen Sullivan, and weathercaster Mark McEwen. Sullivan would be replaced by Paula Zahn in 1990, who in turn was replaced by Jane Robelot in 1996. McEwen would later replace Smith as anchor in 1996. It too, was never successful in ratings, and became the predecessor to The Early Show.
The Early Show's First Years
The Early Show began in 1999 with former Today Show host Bryant Gumbel and newcomer Jane Clayson. Mark McEwen once again did the weather, and Julie Chen read the news. Ratings were not encouraging, and were actually lower than the show it had replaced, CBS This Morning. Gumbel left in 2002, and shortly thereafter Clayson and McEwen were replaced by the current team of four. Julie Chen was the only holdover from the original cast. The show also has a number of "correspondents" who do short segments on specific issues; Martha Stewart, Martha Quinn, Bobby Flay, and Bob Vila, among others, have been featured in this role. Stewart's participation garnered headlines on June 25, 2002, due to her obsessively chopping vegetables for a salad while refusing to answer Clayson's questions regarding her stock fraud scandal -- Stewart stopped contributing to the program after the appearance, which was immortalized in an NBC TV-movie of Stewart's life a few months later.
Much like NBC's The Today Show and The Tonight Show, the title The Early Show is analogous to that of CBS's late-night talk show, The Late Show.
Present
The current hosts are Julie Chen, Harry Smith, Hannah Storm, Rene Syler, and weatherman Dave Price. Susan Koeppen (2004- ) is the consumer correspondent. There is also a weekend edition titled The Saturday Early Show, which is hosted by Russ Mitchell and Tracy Smith and weatherman Ira Joe Fisher The Early Show features celebrity interviews and light entertainment and news pieces. It usually places third in the ratings behind NBC's The Today Show and ABC's Good Morning America. In recent years, it has improved in the ratings, but not enough to win in the time period against the two other morning shows, who are both trying to win first place.
The Early Show's theme song is an instrumental version of Sting's 1999 hit, Brand New Day.
The Saturday Early Show
The Saturday Early Show premiered in September 1997 as CBS News Saturday Morning. It is currently co-hosted by Russ Mitchell and Tracy Smith; Ira Joe Fisher provides weather reports. The show features news and lifestyle segments, including "Chef on a Shoestring" (a cooking segment) and "The Second Cup Cafe" (a music segment).
The Saturday Early Show is broadcast live beginning at 7:00 a.m. EST from the GM Building on Fifth Avenue in New York City, across the street from Central Park. However, it airs at different times depending on the local affiliate.
CBS News Sunday Morning has existed for years and pre-dates The Early Show.
Trivia
Although CBS has been the perennial third-place finisher in the morning race since 1976, it has placed second a few times in the past 30 years. CBS beat Good Morning America for second place the week of January 17, 1977, and the week of December 28, 1998. The Today Show was in first place both times. However CBS did place ahead of The Today Show for second spot, for a few weeks 1984 when Jane Pauley was on maternity leave. At that time Good Morning America was in first place.
In an effort to stop affiliates from dropping the program, CBS allowed more participation from local stations. Most affiliates have their own early morning newscast, which precedes the national news. In 1996, a system was created where many of the local stations air their own newscast from 7 to 8 AM, with inserts from the national broadcast. Then from 8 to 9 AM, affiliates air the second-half of the national broadcast uninterrupted. Ratings went up slightly, and at one point the show even moved ahead of Good Morning America in 1998. The format was abandoned in 1999, when CBS executives had the chance to lure former Today Show host Bryant Gumbel to head up the broadcast. The show was completely revamped, and affiliates were asked to carry the entire two-hour broadcast in its entirety. In 2002, Gumbel left and the format changed yet again to a four person anchor show. To keep affiliates happy, CBS went back to the local/national hybrid format which still exists today.
See also
References
External links
CBS network shows | News television series | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States
"The Early Show"