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On 1/26/2025 at 10:18 AM, RealNews18 said:

Sure seems like they're going to be anchoring together. Interested to see tomorrow and going forward. 

Dual anchoring would make the most sense as it would differentiate them from the other two evening news shows. IMO It gels better with audiences to consistently have those two faces there.

 

Split anchoring to me gives a discombobulated feel, like NBC Nightly News when John Chancellor and Chet Huntley were doing it.

15 hours ago, Yayan4155 said:

This was a great way to preview the broadcast, this should have been done more in the last few months.

On 1/25/2025 at 4:47 PM, FiveNews said:

Do we know how large scale breaking news events will be handled? Will Maurice and John both show up and lead the coverage in tandem? Will they solo anchor for a few hours then pass the torch? 

I hope it's a dual anchor situation as well because again, that would differentiate it from the other networks.

 

I'm curious to see how this goes because IIRC, nearly all multi anchor evening news arrangements since Huntley Brinkley didn't work. The exception being WNT in 1979.

Edited by MediaZone4K
57 minutes ago, MediaZone4K said:

I hope it's a dual anchor situation as well because again, that would differentiate it from the other networks.

 

CBS hasn't done this in 30+ years. It didn't work after nearly a year the first time, we'll see how it goes the second time around.

  • Like 1
On 1/25/2025 at 5:36 PM, MorningNews said:

I was under the impression that Maurice and John were doing split anchor duty. Are they set co-anchor together daily?


They both anchor CBS Evening News together, but for some unknown reason, Dickerson anchors the 2nd half hour (CBS Evening News +) solo. That appears unfair to me (not keeping the duo for both newscasts). Plus, it gives the impression, imo, that Dickerson will simply ‘disappear’ and only anchor EN+ at some point in the future.

 

 

4 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

Dual anchoring wood make the most sense as it would differentiate them from the other two evening news shows. IMO It gels better with audiences to consistently have those two faces there.

 

Split anchoring to me gives a discombobulated feel, like NBC Nightly News when John Chancellor and Chet Huntley were doing it.

This was a great way to preview the broadcast, this should have been done more in the last few months.

I hope it's a dual anchor situation as well because again, that would differentiate it from the other networks.

 

I'm curious to see how this goes because IIRC, nearly all multi anchor evening news arrangements since Huntley Brinkley didn't work. The exception being WNT in 1979.


I don’t think they can justify having two people for example, for a special report, that last less than 5 mins. Seems unnecessary. But if I was Dubois, I would have pushed for being solo lead, when necessary, for breaking news/special reports given Dickerson gets anchor EN+ solo.

 

Plus, I believe Dickerson does 2 podcasts (daily or weekly ones) so he may not be readily available most of the time.

 

I do wonder if they maintain ‘the duo’ if one of them is off and whether or not CBS Weekend News changes to reflect the weekday Evening News or everything stays the same????

3 hours ago, TheNewsTV said:

Does the streaming version of the CBS Evening News also debut today?

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/cbs-evening-news-plus-streaming-john-dickerson-1236234985/

 

I haven't seen it listed on any programming guide. One would assume they will announce when it will air during the Evening News.

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Been such a long time since the early 1980s, when the multi-anchor/multi-city format became passe.

 

Remember the Huntley/Brinkley Report and then NBC Nightly News? Chet Huntley (1956-70), John Chancellor (1970-82) and Tom Brokaw (1982-82) anchored from New York. David Brinkley (1956-81) and then Roger Mudd (1979-83) co-anchored from Washington. How about the first few years of World News Tonight from ABC News? Peter Jennings from London, Max Robinson from Chicago, Frank Reynolds from Washington and Barbara Walters as the forth anchor.

Awesome they're making the old-school very cool again, but with a twist. Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson as the two-man anchor team from New York. Margaret Brennan from Washington. Throw in Meteorologist Lonnie Quinn with the weather news. You got yourself a cool twist on the old-school format.

 

Never in the history of the CBS Evening News had that New York anchor/Washington anchor format like NBC and ABC had. Not even during the days of Douglas Edwards, Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather

Edited by newsteam13
  • Like 1

Maurice and John were indeed at the desk together; they're not alternating anchor duties.

 

Margaret Brennan led with the first story, providing a mix of reporting and analysis.  With two male anchors, which networks and cable have avoided for several decades at this point, it's not a surprise that they would feature her in a prominent role.  Good balance. 

 

The first block featured two packages: one on Deep Seek and one on an espionage story.  They're essentially doing the opposite of what WNT and NN have done.  Instead of shortening packages and squeezing in as many stories as they can, they're covering fewer stories, their packages are much longer, and most are followed by extended talk-backs between both anchors and the correspondent. The first two packages were followed by a fast-paced "Round Up" reading of the day's headlines, and then the first commercial break.

 

During the first commercial break, they displayed headlines and kept a dynamic live shot of the anchors during the commercial break.  The latter, in particular, was a pretty cool concept.  Was able to grab a quick pic (attached).  This didn't continue in the subsequent commercial breaks, though.  And there's probably a better use for the lower left corner than showing temperatures around the world. Maybe sports scores, stock market closing numbers, sunsets from U.S. cities, or an image corresponding to the headline to the right.  

 

The show ended with both anchors giving a commentary on the bravery of firefighters across the country.

 

This show isn't going to beat ABC or NBC, but maybe it'll beat previously iterations of CBSEN.  It seems like a solid product and, with fewer stories and correspondents, it's probably cheaper to produce. 

 

image.thumb.jpeg.e6bdfa5c04ab02c270d8a59de0e850ba.jpeg

Edited by mountainave
  • Like 8

Observations from tonight, Not that you asked for it lol....

 

This was good. Slower paced, zero sensationalism, PBS quality. Definitely better than NBC and ABC journalistically speaking.

 

1. Love the return of the 1987 Rather theme. I would love to see the 1991 theme comeback but this is great

 

2. No headlines tease, straight into the broadcast. This is a nice contrast to the two minute headlines on WNT. 

 

3. They seem to be going for a more discussion-based format because Maurice and John had an extended conversation with Margaret Brennan for their lead story.

 

4. The CBS EN logo is in the Upper third. European style. 

PXL_20250127_233445026_MP.thumb.jpg.fc3977ac9d31678aa686ae993c88e6b8.jpg

 

5. Documentary style L3 

PXL_20250127_233717246.thumb.jpg.de16fea67e269cc9f4eb89de9e12a820.jpg

6. No rapid flips between frames and images during packages like NNN, and WNT

 

7. No lower third graphic present during the entirety of the story 

 

8. No use of "breaking news"  at all

 

9. Slower paced than the competition, definitely has a 60 minutes feel to it. They did a news Roundup at the end of the A block to rapidly acknowledge the major stories in the world.

 

10. The set looks good. The lighting on the talent is to washed out though. If they dim the lighting like they did for Inside Edition interview it would look better.

Edited by MediaZone4K
  • Like 6

I was very pleased with what we watched, and I'll definitely be watching the repeat on CBS News 24/7 later tonight. It's definitely got 60 Minutes meets PBS News Hour meets local news. It was a nice relief to just have the intro going into the A-Block and not have a headlines sequence to open the broadcast.

 

So happy that the 1987 theme is back (in its 2011 remastered version), but I can also agree that it would've been nice to hear the 1991 theme for the first time in 19 years.

  • Like 6

Interesting first broadcast.

 

No cold open tease. Just the open and right into the first story, which was talking with Margaret Brennan about the new Chinese AI app that scared Wall Street today. Then a 60 Minutes-like piece from Jim Axelrod on Chinese intelligence threats. CBS got lucky with today's news that made that story, which they had to have been working on for a bit, seem extra relevant. 

 

The new president who is sucking up so much oxygen everywhere else got about ten seconds of coverage during a headlines roundup.

 

Lower-thirds are very different than anything else on CBS, and only seem to be used for talent. (I don't think lower-thirds need to be permanent on the screen but they can be useful for identifying people and places.) There is not even the small CBS eye on the screen. The circular CBS Evening News logo appears on the top left of the screen during video playback.

 

The studio looks nice, but it feels like local news. They have this nice newsroom but chose to have that behind the cameras, not in front. Perhaps they'll make more use of the newsroom in shots later on. WCBS also mentioned that the set will feature augmented reality but I didn't see any of that tonight.

 

During the first commercial break, they had some text headlines/teases on the bottom of the screen, some "world temperatures," and a small box showing Maurice and John in the studio. The camera just kept swaying from left to right and back showing the talent just sitting there. Not very exciting. Is it really necessary?

 

Why does the logo say "Eye On America America"?

 

Love that theme song. Is this the third time they've used it, going back to the 1980s?

 

Definitely a nice first show. Still not sure I understand why they need two anchors. Wonder how fill-ins will be handled.

 

Will be interesting if CBS stays the course or gets impatient in 6 to 12 months.

Edited by Geoffrey
  • Like 3
  • Sad 1

I really liked the first broadcast of the new EN. The graphics look great - simple and not kept onscreen yet effective and useful (and great lack of BREAKING NEWS), the set design is very nice, well-utilized and vibrant, and DuBois & Dickerson make a good team and the stories are great & informative. I look forward to watching this new era as it continues. 

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@Geoffrey I think the two anchor format is just to be different from NBC & ABC.

 

By God, this may be their best revamp since Bob Schiffer. Hopefully CBS stays the course. Loved the international coverage, more of that please 

 

Overall I think CBS shines when they do what they do best: hard documentary style/mature/intellectual reporting, not imitating the competition. 

 

  • Like 7

I liked 99.9% of what I saw. Didn’t love the live shot of the anchors during the commercial (and world temps); but this is a work in progress so I won’t nitpick too much.

 

Loved the lack of political news and used of the video walls. Worth-noting is that both Nightly and World News lead with the ICE raids and Evening News lead with a story (AI threat) that viewers likely would have never heard about.

 

Overall, great start and hopefully viewers (and others) take note because this is how a nightly network newscast should be done.

  • Like 6

I've seen opens, and now a montage from Archiva on YouTube. I have to give it a solid A-.

 

I thought seeing no tease, no BREAKING NEWS stingers, and weather coverage (regardless if it was significant or not) was refreshing. This is night one so I'll take what I've seen with a grain of salt because it doesn't mean it'll be consistent every night. However, I do think CBS has finally found a working formula and I hope it sticks.

 

CBS deserves to be #1 again every night, but it'll take a bit more tweaking and many more viewers to lure them all back in. For now, night one gives me a solid A- impression.

  • Like 7

Another thing to note: the headlines music bed was used during the story teases when going out to the first commercial break. So even if its not being used in its traditional location in the broadcast, it's still being used for something.

  • Like 2
4 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

I've seen opens, and now a montage from Archiva on YouTube. I have to give it a solid A-.

 

I thought seeing no tease, no BREAKING NEWS stingers, and weather coverage (regardless if it was significant or not) was refreshing. This is night one so I'll take what I've seen with a grain of salt because it doesn't mean it'll be consistent every night. However, I do think CBS has finally found a working formula and I hope it sticks.

 

CBS deserves to be #1 again every night, but it'll take a bit more tweaking and many more viewers to lure them all back in. For now, night one gives me a solid A- impression.

CBS has the strongest Evening News, Political Affairs, and morning shows and News Magazine journalistically speaking. I still don't understand why they/Paramount seem to be struggling much more than NBC and ABC. 

 

Hopefully people give this a chance.

  • Like 2

Though I love that CBS brought back the 1987-1991 original Dan Rather theme music (from Trivers/Myers), this is like the 3rd time they brought it back?

How about bringing back the 1991-2006 updated version done by Patterson, Walz and Fox? A REFRESHED version with the This is CBS branding mnemonic thrown in, of course?

Edited by newsteam13
  • Like 1
5 hours ago, E. R. said:

Also, why the hate on the international weather?


Not sure it’s relevant to know at 6:30/5:30P.


Missed opportunity to show major stocks that were down for the day or as least tied international weather to the weather segment itself.

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