Ten years ago today,
CBS introduced “The Early Show,” its
umpteenth try since 1954 to stage a successful morning news program.
The Washington
Post’s Tom Shales described his enthusiasm for the new show – hosted by NBC
veteran Bryant Gumbel and newcomer Jane Clayson – as ranking “somewhere in the
vicinity of adding another slice of pickle to a Quarter Pounder With Cheese.”
Don’t blame
Shales for being grumpy; the poor guy’s been chronicling CBS’s morning show failures
for decades:
• “[T]he new
90-minute news and feature magazine … will be okay as soon as it falls out of
love with itself. Since Charles Kuralt is the host, that may take a while.”
(From a Jan. 29,
1979 review of “Morning,” hosted by Kuralt on Sundays and Bob Schieffer
weekdays.)
• “What goes ‘chirp-chirp
thud, chirp-chirp thud?’ An 800-pound canary or the “CBS Morning News.’”
(From a March
16, 1982 review of the “CBS Morning News,” the Bill Kurtis/Diane Sawyer-hosted
successor to the weekday version of “Morning.”)
• “The show
wears a smile button three miles wide.”
(From a Jan. 15,
1985 review of the revamped “Morning News,” hosted by Kurtis and Phyllis George.)
• “I hate
everything about it. It’s antsy, it’s noisy, it’s too insistent for an
early-hour program. The set is cold, the weatherman is a wimp, the announcer
gets on my nerves, the graphics are too busy, the music is jangly and pushy. ...
I expect that irritating announcer some morning to say, ‘If you’re not there
when we come back from this next commercial, we’ll find you and kill you.’”
(From a Sept.
30, 1985 review of another revamped “Morning News” – this one hosted by Forrest
Sawyer and Maria Shriver.)
• “Watching it
was like waking up and finding the house overrun with last night’s party
guests, most of them stewed to the gills and gabby as all get-out.”
(From a Jan. 13,
1987 review of “The Morning Program,” a Mariette Hartley/Rolland Smith-hosted
show that bumped “Morning News” out of its time slot.)
• “You’d have
been a fool to expect anything really new.”
(From a Dec. 1,
1987 review of “CBS This Morning,” the Kathleen Sullivan/Harry Smith-hosted
show that replaced “The Morning Program.”)
• “Smith still
looks like he’s arrived to go over your books, and Paula Zahn … tends to be
handed demeaningly lightweight assignments.”
(From a Sept.
10, 1991 column, referring to a revamped version of “This Morning” that debuted
in 1990.)
• “This poor
embattled old scow of a show has had so many paint jobs and refurbishings they’re
beyond counting – and the matter of whether CBS can ever come up with a winner,
or even a viable contender, is beyond caring.”
(From a Nov. 6,
2002 review of a revamped “Early Show” hosted by Julie Chen, Hannah Storm,
Smith and Rene Syler.)
From
the Pages of TV Guide
Also airing Nov.
1, 1999:
7 AM ABC Good Morning America (CC) –
Gibson/Sawyer 2:00
7 AM NBC Today (CC) – Couric/Lauer 2:00
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