Thoughts on The CBS Morning News – Day 2
Posted on Tue, Jan 10, 2012 @ 02:18 PM
From CJ&N's Mark Antonitis:
I thought it unfair to pass judgment on day one, so I watched Tuesday.
What did I see? An uncomfortable group of newbies talking to sleepy and disconnected established CBS “stars” stumbling over material they know by heart. New and breaking news, which should be a priority, took a backseat to prepackaged formulaic summaries from yesterday. Forced package segments replaced real 
news and, this was the real zinger, too much fluff! Eighteen feet of snow in Alaska was interesting the first three times I saw it. And they teased more for tomorrow. Oh boy!
And that was just the first 20 minutes.
It looked like everyone was trying too hard, including the people producing the show. Why would you start a morning newscast with a quick-cut 90-second compilation of yesterday’s coverage of yesterday’s news? I guess it’s because someone near the top of the decision making food chain thought if set to music it would be hip, cool, or I don’t know, maybe groovy.
What happened on CBS This Morning Tuesday is what happens when you have too long to think about something. They dragged in a few names viewers would know, got cute, and lost sight of their goals. In short they produced a newscast rather than covered the news. These are typical mistakes of a new program long in the making. Ironically, once the initial suit-scrutiny has passed they’ll begin to produce the newscast they wanted to all along. I just hope the audience and management give them time.
What I saw today on the air was nothing like what they advertised this show to be.
I was expecting to see a morning version of what Scott Pelley is doing on the CBS Evening News. Now that (whatever that is) I would have enjoyed. I’m a news junky with a DVR. I record and watch two network newscasts each evening (I would record all three, but my wife draws the line at two and I like her and I want her to continue to like me). I used to record NBC and ABC, but a few months back switched from ABC to CBS. I think it was around the time ABC showed me for the twelfth time that only one item in somebody’s home had been made in America. I think it was a vase. Maybe a lamp. I don’t remember.
So I gave “serious journalism” on CBS another shot. Right away I thought Scott Pelley was the anti-BriWi – dull, simmering self-importance, cold, humorless, and the news they covered was, well, serious. In short, I loved it! Finally a newscast that just covered the news. Don’t get me wrong, I still like NBC and Brian Williams. What CBS has tapped into, though, is the obvious opening – people who can’t stand the "Making a Difference" segment on NBC (I hate that thing – makes me feel inadequate, lazy and glad those people make a difference so I don’t have to) and people who buy Chinese lamps at WalMart. That’s not everyone, but it’s still a lot of people. These days with a low ratings bar, and even lower viewer expectations, what CBS is doing in the evening makes sense.
And it sounded as if that was the plan for the morning.
I think it still is. So here is the unsolicited advice blogs like this always contain. Please, CBS, execute the plan you promoted. Give us thoughtful, intelligent coverage of stuff that’s happening now, not yesterday. If you cut out the fluff and packaged segments that producers love to produce, I won’t care if Gayle King is Oprah’s best friend, Charlie Rose is insufferable, and that I can’t remember the name of the woman you held over from the Early Show.
That can’t possibly take more than a week. So, I’ll watch again next Tuesday. But if you don’t get it straightened out by then, I won’t see you again for six months. We’re a fickle and impatient lot, we average viewers. Especially when we don’t see what we were expecting.