First incarnation and The Early Show The original incarnation of
CBS This Morning made its debut on November 30, 1987, with hosts
Harry Smith, former
Good Morning America news anchor
Kathleen Sullivan, and
Mark McEwen, a holdover from the show's infotainment-intensive predecessor
The Morning Program as weather caster and announcer. Sullivan was replaced by
Paula Zahn on February 26, 1990. For almost all of its run, it stayed in third place in the ratings. However, it was usually far more competitive than its eight predecessors in the morning slot had been. Beginning on October 26, 1992, in an effort to prevent
affiliates from dropping the program, CBS increased the amount of time available during the broadcast for local stations, most of which broadcast their own early morning news programs before the national news begins. Nevertheless, several CBS stations in top-ranking markets, like then-affiliates
WJBK in Detroit,
WAGA in Atlanta,
WHDH in Boston and
KDKA in Pittsburgh (as of 2022, still a CBS station) dropped the program in favor of either local or syndicated programming. KDKA would resume airing the program in the summer of 1995. Another station,
KPIX in San Francisco, planned in 1994 to still broadcast
CBS This Morning, but from 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. PST as the lead-in to its morning program. Smith and Zahn left the program on June 14, 1996, with various
CBS News correspondents
Harold Dow,
Erin Moriarty,
John Roberts,
Russ Mitchell,
Hattie Kauffman,
Mark McEwen and
Jane Robelot anchoring
CBS This Morning for seven weeks until a new format was in place. In August 1996, the program was revamped again, as simply
This Morning, with
Mark McEwen and
Jane Robelot as co-hosts, news anchor
José Díaz-Balart (succeeded by Cynthia Bowers, then
Thalia Assuras, and finally
Julie Chen) and
Craig Allen (of
WCBS-TV and
WCBS-AM in
New York City) serving as weather anchor. A new format allowed local stations to air their own newscasts from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. local time, interspersed with inserts from the national broadcast; the second hour of the national broadcast would then air uninterrupted from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Ratings went up slightly, and at one point in 1998 the program even moved ahead of
Good Morning America. But its ratings success was also brief, and CBS announced its decision to cancel the program in early 1999. Robelot left
This Morning in June 1999 after it was revealed that the program would be replaced. Assuras served as co-anchor and Chen as newsreader for the show's remaining five months. McEwen left the show at the end of September 1999 to prepare for the launch of
The Early Show and was replaced by
Russ Mitchell, who formerly conducted sports segments.
This Morning ended on October 29, 1999 after twelve years. It was replaced by
The Early Show, which debuted the following Monday, November 1. Though it had occasional peaks in the
ratings,
The Early Show was a perennial third-place finisher behind
NBC's
Today and
ABC's
Good Morning America. In its last year,
The Early Show shied away from the news, features, light stories and "
infotainment" approach used by the program since its debut, that it based on the formats of its two main competitors.
Development and revival participates in an interview in 2016 On November 15, 2011, CBS News announced that
The Early Show would be cancelled, and that the news division would overhaul its morning news program effective January 9, 2012. The news division's chairman
Jeff Fager and president
David Rhodes revealed at the official announcement that day that the revamped and retitled program would "redefine the morning television landscape" – meaning that rather than replicate the relaxed lifestyle-driven styles of
Today and
Good Morning America, the new format would feature a mix of "
hard news" (a CBS News hallmark), analysis and discussion. On December 1, 2011, the title of the new show was revealed as
CBS This Morning, marking a return of the name to the morning newscast since 1999. The founding
executive producer of
CBS This Morning was
Chris Licht, who was hired by CBS in the spring of 2011 after serving as executive producer of
MSNBC's morning news-discussion program
Morning Joe. Licht's move to CBS led to speculation that
Morning Joe hosts
Joe Scarborough and
Mika Brzezinski would follow Licht to CBS, as their contracts with MSNBC were set to expire; though Scarborough and Brzezinski confirmed contemplating offers from CBS and other networks, they signed a new contract with MSNBC out of a belief that their interview-intensive approach could not be duplicated on broadcast television. CBS instead tapped a trio of noted television veterans for the weekday edition of
CBS This Morning:
The Early Show holdover
Erica Hill,
Gayle King and
Charlie Rose. Licht described Rose, who had previously hosted CBS's former overnight news program
CBS News Nightwatch (which was replaced by
Up to the Minute and later
CBS Overnight News) in the 1980s, and had also served as a part-time correspondent for occasional segments since 2008 on the long-running newsmagazine
60 Minutes, as "an incredible interviewer". Licht promised an "outside the box" approach to
CBS This Morning, insisting that the show would not include forced anchor banter, cooking segments, "comedic weather forecasters, [or] cheering fans on an outdoor plaza."
Since revival interviewing President
Barack Obama in 2013 On July 26, 2012, CBS announced that its Chief
White House Correspondent
Norah O'Donnell would replace Hill starting in September 2012. Hill was pulled from the program immediately after the announcement (an absence which was not explained on the broadcast), and was eventually released from her CBS contract (Hill joined NBC in November 2012, becoming a co-host of
weekend editions of
Today). On November 20, 2017, Rose was fired by CBS following a report in
The Washington Post in which eight women accused him of sexual harassment. King and O'Donnell addressed the issue on the show. In January 2018, it was announced that
John Dickerson (moderator of
Face the Nation) would join the program as the third co-anchor. On October 3, 2018, it was announced that correspondent
Bianna Golodryga would be joining the show as the fourth co-host. However, six months later, in April 2019, Golodryga chose to leave CBS News. On May 6, 2019, it was announced that Dickerson and O'Donnell would leave
CBS This Morning, with Dickerson moving to
60 Minutes and O'Donnell to
CBS Evening News.
Anthony Mason and
Tony Dokoupil were named as successors, and made their debuts on May 20, 2019, alongside King. O'Donnell's last day on the show was May 16, 2019, followed by Dickerson on May 17, 2019. CBS announced several planned changes to the program in 2021, including a move to a new studio at
One Astor Plaza in
Times Square, and a new co-host in
Nate Burleson with Mason moving to a role as reporter on culture. On August 31, the network announced that
CBS This Morning would instead be succeeded by a new program,
CBS Mornings, starting September 7. The reconfigured program retained the social media and YouTube channels created for
CBS This Morning. The transition was completed on September 18, 2021 when
CBS This Morning Saturday was rebranded as
CBS Saturday Morning. ==Format==