CBS premiered its revamped morning show CBS This Morning with anchors Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill on Monday, Jan. 9 in a bid to up its third-place standing among the morning shows. The following are reviews from TV critics around the Web, compiled by B&C.
“The best thing about the show, however, is that most of the time, all three hosts seemed perfectly at ease and confident negotiating the various roles required on a morning show. I’d encourage more interaction among them, and the show clearly needs to add a supporting character in the tradition of Al Roker to deliver both the weather and a few zingers for the three hosts to chuckle over.” — Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly
“The new show, anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill, is much better than the half-hearted version the network put on last year and a marked improvement over what has been on in the last several years.” – Richard Huff, New York Daily News
“The perennial drawback of having a much-anticipated news or talk show launch is that people judge you forever on the basis of your first show. Maybe the advantage of CBS This Morning starting out from so far in third place is that it’s far enough off the radar that people won’t rush to assess it.” – James Poniewozik, TIME
“It will take some time for CBS This Morning to locate its proper place in the realm of TV’s crowded and buzz-addicted field of morning brew-haha, but it’s easy to predict that once that place is found, it still won’t be atop the ratings.” — Hank Stuever, The Washington Post
“If there was nothing particularly novel about This Morning’s debut, it does already seem to be an improvement on The Early Show, and that may be all the premiere has to accomplish. At the moment, it’s probably not enough of a boost to lure loyal and happy viewers away from its competitors, but anyone unhappy with the current lineups at Today or GMA should consider giving This Morning a try.” — Robert Bianco, USA Today
