MorningNews

Again, you’re making some lofty assumptions and I’m not sure where you’re pulling them from. I think the anchors are paid very appropriately for the work that they do and results they bring, I don’t have any outrage over that. I’m simply pointing to the complaints by most people here that a news anchors commitments are so difficult when a majority of the country works the same long hours and is not paid nearly as much. It’s the standard in our country. Further, as I stated many people don’t stay put. Typical work standards require mandated lunch periods and periodic breaks throughout the work day. Your statements make it seem like anchor’s are tied to their desks like prisoners in your attempts to paint the “woe is the life of television news.” I can’t speak for NYC, but the anchors at the top Houston television station definitely head home for a bit during the breaks between the 6 and 10 pm news. Now step off your podium, professor.

I’m so confused, other than a slew of insinuations who here actually said that the anchor’s day is only consisting of their airtime? Who said that at all? I’m so over this “it’s unfair to work that many hours” when 98% of America works a 9 hour workday with an hour lunch and make a lot less money than the anchors in the top media market. Give the pity parties a rest on this narrative please. Beyond that, at a majority of stations across the nation the morning anchors also anchor their station’s midday broadcasts. The question as to why Ken and Shirleen don’t both anchor like Lori Stokes did for the better half of two decades is a fair one. Do Ken and Shirleen do the cut-ins during GMA? I find it hard to believe that they’re staying put for 6 hours in the building between 7 am - 12 noon. Similarly to how the evening anchors go home after 6 and return before 11.

Yeah this is more of what I had in mind. Seems odd to have Bill go from 5-6:30 while Sade and Liz trade off. 4:30-7 and again from 12-1 really that taxing? Lori, Steve and Ken did that for years.

Not sure if there’s any rhyme or reason, but why does Bill Ritter anchor 5-6:30 instead of David Novarro anchoring 6 with Liz? Just seems like it would make sense to more evenly divide those newscasts. Was there a reason that Ken Rosato was moved off of the noon show but Shirleen remained?

I was just coming here to comment on that. Wasn’t sure if they have made the move recently and I missed it but interesting to see them there years after moving away.

Sheinelle Jones is leaving Saturday Today, but will still host the 3rd hour M-F. A rotating list of anchors will sit with Peter Alexander over the next several weeks.

^ if this is the case for ABC or NBC affiliates then I’ve never heard of it. Years ago The Early Show accomplished this same feat by rating lower than Fox & Friends in some markets. Plus the markets mentioned in the FTV Live story are each mega to decent sized markets. Not a particularly promising start to a new era of the show.

She's the least natural presenter of the 3 evening news anchors, her delivery always comes off a super try hard anchor woman even when she was on the morning show and her interviewing style is overly combative. I hardly find her reputable or personable. Scott Pelley, Anthony Mason, Margaret Brennan, John Dickerson, Don Dahler, possibly Major Garrett and Bob Schieffer. Doesn't CBS also have a deal with CNN, there are a number of talented CNN presenters that I would put ahead of Norah. Sorry to upset you or your opinion, I just think she was one of the weakest choices any of the networks have made in anchor in quite some time. Even Katie Couric made more sense. Norah's delivery is more suited for FTN than any other CBS broadcast. Her star power has done nothing to elevate the show and she was quite possibly the weakest of that CtM bunch after Gayle and Charlie. David Muir wasn't necessarily the most popular ABC News personality but he made sense and look where his broadcast is at, averaging almost 4-5x Norah's.

And Norah who is rating lower than cable programming and ever lower than Jeff Glor somehow is? Got it. I don't remember hearing these stories under Katie Couric or Scott Pelley either. I'm not advocating for Glor in particular, I just think its asinine to arbitrarily keep changing presenters every few years in hopes of ratings growth. That said - in my opinion, Norah is very weak and was even on CtM. There are a number of qualified people at CBS that should have gotten this position over her.

Never remember seeing a headline like that under Jeff Glor.

Please explain the issue with kosher deli vs Bodega to a non-native NYer.

Oh how could I forget that Tony Reali experiment that lasted all of 2 days? It’s crazy to think about what’s changed in the last 5 years. I would really like to see TJ Holmes step into a much larger role with the show. He’s got much more of the gravitas and charisma that Michael just doesn’t have. He also plays really well off of whoever he’s on set no matter who they are.

Not to pile on, but Michael was only slightly better as the host of Live! He still stumbled over every other word and seemed completely caught off guard when his focus had to shift back to reading the prompter.

I think there's a little more to it than the competition shake ups, GMA and Today are virtually the same levels of trash. Both shows feel so rushed with an abundance of gimmicks and bad content. Today just has better production value. Completely agree on Michael Strahan being a terribly under-qualified host for this show. It is painful watching him conduct an interview, I think the last time I watched he was interviewing a kidnapping victim and it was awful. He and Lara are virtually interchangeable so I'm not sure why they insist on keeping them both around. I'm hoping for a major overhaul of the program in the next few years.

Yep they have found something that resonates with the audience for sure but the product is so horrible. GMA is a shell of its former self in the worst way.

How she manages to land jobs is beyond me. One of the worst anchors I've seen in a big market.

It's rumored that she and WFAA agreed to part ways after a small spat with her coworkers which led her to post some trash talk on social media (that was swiftly deleted). Seems odd that she would leave without something lined up, seems odd that WFAA would remove her when a growth in their viewership correlates to her arrival on the DFW airwaves. Who knows what the truth is.

Matt Lauer was very clearly a pompous ass after Katie left and it was very apparent on the air. I had no idea however that he was a serial predator.

WNT last Wednesday was viewed by 9.2 million viewers figures that haven't been seen since almost 10 years ago. WNT has hit that mark several times throughout 2019.

I'd also be curious to see what the viewership figures around the city were. Many people I know here simply turned away from KXAS to any other station in town providing information. I'm sure NFL still dominated but it seems like most people were more interested in finding news about the storm than the football game.

I didn't realize that KTVT also dropped the ball. Have they also released an explanation as to what happened? My theory is that KXAS opted to stick with a division rivalry game for the hometown team. Not an excuse at all but that at least explains what the hell they were thinking.

Since I've moved to DFW, I've noticed that WFAA's breaking news coverage is underwhelming at best. KDFW is this town's news leader without a doubt, and KTVT has very solid coverage as well. Just a little weird at how bad WFAA is compared to how strong I've always heard the station was. Also I wonder would KXAS would have cut away from the game if it had been anyone other than Dallas playing a division rival? I'd like to hope that that's the only reason they stuck with the game despite it being a negligent decision.

Shepard Smith would be a great choice, he or Ann Curry.

Suddenly ratings don't matter to the network that has gone through several anchors on both flagship programs in a decade. Norah will be gone in another year. WNT hit 9 million viewers a few months ago and is hovering around where Charlie Gibson's numbers were. In fact, 11 years ago last week 7,610,000 viewers watched WNT compared to 8,227,000 viewers who watched last week. What you stated is simply not fact. https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/evening-news-ratings-week-of-oct-13/22480/

Doubt the move will change anything, Norah is just not anchor material. Hopefully these numbers continue trending downward until CBS decides to make real changes.