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I like the old Dan Rather music (headlines and open). I like the camera shot. I don't love that Tony's picture appeared in the open and I don't like the bug and lower-third, especially the intentionally unaligned nature.

And the 1991-2006 music is back, in addition to the updated logo and graphics.

It's not the 1996 Rather desk, but it has to be another desk from that same era – looks like maybe the Up to the Minute desk? Either way, that desk is for sure a hand-me-down and not new.

Now THIS is a news desk! Seriously, hoping that the one they found at a Savers and refurbished with $20 of supplies was just temporary since they thought they had a few more days before the new set would be used. By the way- how much did the John/Maurice set cost to be used for only a year? This is not what anyone in America wants to see on their TV during the dinner hour.

Positives: Loving the Dan Rather era score, headlines theme and logo font's returns. They've constantly recycled the *1987-1991 theme so I'm glad that this lives again. I hope CBS News Special Reports get this music again. When Tony is eventually replaced, I hope they keep it. Love using the newsroom as the broadcast set, an updated version of the Dan Rather era. Tony's desk looks like Rather's. I'd say Tony's set looks even better than the sets used by Nora and Maurice/John. CONS: L3 graphics are boxy and ugly. The format is a copy of the competition. Everything is breaking news in the intro, but at least everything in the A block wasn't "Breaking". The camera seemed to bounce whenever it came back to Tony's main shot on set. Overall, I'd say Maurice and John's broadcast was superior, but I do prefer the set and news theme on Tony's show. I wonder what the CBS evening news with Nate Burleson will look like in 2027 Even ET is leading with Tony's debut.

Tony wasn't sure at one point which story was next and it seemed to take forever to get clarification. He drew attention to it. Ever since that moment, he's seemed very flustered, even two blocks later, still speaking very quickly, tripping over his words, and even getting Dr. Jon LaPook to speak pretty quickly. For the second block, they returned for Tony to read just one story, then tease the same story they had teased in the first tease. I get that they were planning on doing this broadcast from San Francisco until news dictated two days ago that they do news today but I was expecting a more polished product for the big debut. Edit: Bafflingly, they closed with a segment called "Only in America," a story read live by Tony, about something a small town did to raise money last winter. Last winter! And we thought the Evening News of 2025 was taking their time to report stories...

Agreed. Neither are a major deal breaker for me though. The L3 is about what I expect for CBS at this point, but wish they would reduce the CBSEN logo by a third or half. Most people watching know what they are watching. NBC does the logo well by rotating the Peacock, NN, and full Nightly logo... CBS could learn a thing or two there.

Here it is in action:

I'll break this down... Whatever it was before Meredith owned them... WHAE from 1971-1977 (CBN; Independent) WANX from 1977-1984 (CBN; Independent) WGNX from 1984-1998 (Tribune from 1984-1998; Independent until 1994, then CBS), the most famous era before all the Meredith stuff came through. Meredith's ownership... WGNX from 1998-2000 (CBS Atlanta - WGNX 46) WGCL from 2000-2021 (CBS Atlanta, Clear TV, CBS 46 - Atlanta's NewsChannel, CBS 46, CBS Atlanta, CBS 46, you know the mess) Gray's ownership... WGCL from 2021-2022 (CBS 46 during the transitional phase) WANF from 2022-present (Atlanta News First; CBS until 2025, back to being an Independent) I know... no bullet lists, but a point had to be made. I hope you enjoyed this little history lesson.

Maybe if he actually pushed back on the blatant lies and misinformation. And it’s not remotely childish to point out the SecDef has zero qualifications for the role. That hardly makes him unique in this regime, to be sure. But someone who never was in a command position and has expertise you could fit in a thimble should be scrutinized, not treated like a buddy at a bar.

Agree with most of your takes, and this one really bothered me. The shot always started with Tony centered, then quickly panned to the left as the OTS animated in. Seemingly half the time, the camera went too far and had to slowly come back to better frame. Is there any chance the "headlines" music was sped up? They definitely want this broadcast to be more energetic and lively (I still think Tony's talking speed picked up after he got flustered) but the music felt faster than I remembered.

Reverting to the Dan Rather era music is certainly a choice. Maybe, Tony's replacement in a couple years will revive the James Horner composed Katie Couric 2006-2011 music.

The KSDK time/temp bug is SLOPPY. In the video above and on today's noon the first number of the time crosses the divider line.

My wish for 2026 is for a station to build a set and not stick a desk 5 feet in front of a LED wall with a static city skyline background. Just one station. Please. I beg you.

Tegna being Tegna, they really just moved into a plain, vanilla office building like that. At least employees are so thrilled to finally have windows

Interesting that the station in question is only referred to in the article as "the Channel 46 station" (and even then only once) with no direct reference to WANF.

Bree Smith is starting the new year by returning to Nashville television... and to WSMV Channel 4. https://www.wsmv.com/2026/01/05/longtime-tv-meteorologist-bree-smith-joins-wsmv4-first-alert-weather-team/

With this report from Today, NBC's 100th Anniversary celebration has officially begun.

WXFL, Tampa, 1984 late news open:

With the de facto launch of America 250 today (the NFL has it noted on the field and on the ball), Fox has introduced an on-air logo referencing the Semiquincentennial at the start of programming; curious what other networks will follow.

Today the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted to dissolve the organization: https://cpb.org/pressroom/corporation-public-broadcasting-board-votes-dissolve-organization-act-responsible