Taking a Closer Look at CBS This Morning

Eye Opener Segment:

CBS plays on the CBS network nickname: "The Eye Network" with its eye shaped logo. The show utilizes a 90 second video montage of newsworthy events of the past 24 hours aptly titled, The Eye Opener @8. Its tag line is, "Your world in 90 seconds."

The Move From Prestigious GM Plaza To The West 57th Street Backwater:

Before its change to the more serious news format, CTM, then known as The Early Show was broadcast from the first floor television studio at the General Motors Building. This location had a great outdoor plaza, which was home to FAO Schwartz, the Apple Store and was across the street from the Plaza Hotel and Central Park. The plaza was always filled with tourists and locals alike, hoping to be seen as part of The Early Show audience. With the new format, the show moved to a windowless studio on a nondescript part of West 57th street. Even if the show wanted to have a live outdoor studio audience, they would be reduced to standing on the sidewalk or blocking 57th street, not quite the same atmosphere of Today's Rockefeller Plaza, GMA's Times Square, or The Early Show's previous location.

Only Morning Show without dedicated Weather Segment:

Unlike its competitors, Good Morning America and Today, CBS This Morning does not have a dedicated weather segment or weather anchor. However, during the broadcast local CBS Affiliates are allotted time to insert their local forecasts. For those smaller stations without local news, a national weather map or list of nationwide city forecasts are provided. In the event of a major weather news story, such as a hurricane or blizzard, CBS uses meteorologists from the local TV stations that they own mainly WBBM-TV in Chicago or WCBS-TV in New York. Storms in other locations have been troublesome, as the show has no coverage.

Saturday Edition:

The Saturday edition premiered on 2012 and is broadcast from 7:00-9:00 am Eastern Standard Time. The current hosts for this version of the show are Vinita Nair and Anthony Mason. Although more focused on the news for the first hour, the show resembles other soft-news morning shows for the second hour. A sofa is moved in and the hosts introduce musical performers and cooking segments as well as other fluffy news.

On Sunday, CBS News Sunday Morning is aired, where it has been a popular, high rated show since its debut in 1979. Although not produced by CBS This Morning, its format follows one of its failed predecessors, the CBS Morning News.

New Tag line, New Viewers, and an ever increasing West Coast Audience:

With the creation of its new format and a return focus on hard news, CBS also created a new tag line. "The news is back in the morning" The tag line seems to working well for the re-imagined show. Among the three morning shows, CBS This Morning has been the only one to see a steady increase in viewership. The show also scores big marks in the West Coast Market as they are the only show that makes it a habit to provide up to date information, when available, to its west coast audiences. Both Today and GMA, will only update with new information when they consider it a big story and unless it is wildfires or earthquakes, they do not usually cover it. In keeping information fresh for its West Coast viewers, CBS This Morning has managed to take viewership away from both the local morning shows and those who would normally watch Today or GMA and who were not pleased with seeing news that was three hours or even more stale than that.

Famous Interviews:

As part of its focus on serious news stories, while Today and GMA interviews pop stars like Taylor Swift or people made famous for a funny YouTube video, CTM chooses to focus on world leaders and other newsworthy figures. They do not interview a celebrity solely due to their celebrity status, unless there is value to the story involved, they will pass on the interview. Some of the past interviewees have included Michelle Obama, Caroline Kennedy, Jeff Kyle (brother of real life American Sniper, Chris Kyle), Glenn Close (on the hidden history of mental illness in her family), Michio Kaku- world famous physicist, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad ( for which Charlie Rose won a Peabody Award)

Transfer To A Non-Studio Audience Format:

When the format of the show changed from a typical morning show, to its now hard hitting , and in depth news format, the inclusion or addition of a live studio audience seemed entirely out of place. Even when the show broadcasts interviews with noteworthy guests, many times the interview itself was taped at a different time and/or different location. During its previous incarnations though, there have been studio audiences who enjoyed watching live music performances, cooking, lifestyle and home improvements tips from contributors like Martha Stewart and Bob Vila.