CBS Evening News

[PTVNews 194]

2 hours ago, atlnewsfan03 said:

Things to remember is: (1) Many TV viewers have lost faith in local and national news organizations for a multitude of reasons.  (2) CBS has never fully recovered from the mid 90s affiliation switch, where CBS lost affiliates (in Atlanta, Austin, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Tampa Bay) to Fox, as well as additional switches that took place in Baltimore, Boston, Denver, Philly, Sacramento, and Salt Lake City about that same time.  (3) And whether it's Scott Pelley, or Jeff Glor, or Norah O'Donnell anchoring, or if CBS were to pick a name like Shephard Smith or Ann Curry, ratings aren't going to improve overnight.  This will take time.

 

Interesting idea to move the Evening News to a different time slot, but I'm not sure if it would be better. I imagine most people have heard the news of the day by that point, and are more interested in relaxing with entertainment content before bed, rather than news. I wonder what it would be like if primetime across the country moved from 7pm-10pm, local news 10-11pm, then network news at 11pm, with the late shows at 11:30pm?

 

Anyways, despite whatever reason people may claim is the problem with CBS in the short term, I think it's really much simpler. Do you really think people are not tuning in to CBS because 20 years ago something happened that most people aren't even aware of? I don't think so.

 

While there may be a few specific reasons CBS Evening News is struggling against its competitors, I think it just comes down to the fact that TV news is slowly dying. Yeah, that sucks for "us" as fans or myself personally, it being my career.  But society and culture is changing, and TV news is losing out to other methods to get news and to other ways people want to spend their free time. Some organizations are experimenting (Tegna) to see if there is something they can produce that consumers want....maybe they'll strike gold, but currently I don't see that happening.

 

Ultimately, I view TV news like a landline phone. Slowly dying. Some people still have one and enjoy it, but others have dropped it and moved on to other options. Then there's others that will never use one because there are better, more attractive, more convenient options (cell phones, internet), so they will never want a landline. Which means there is almost nothing landline providers can do to attract people unless society/culture shifts in some way to prefer landlines again, which doesn't seem likely.

Edited October 24, 2019 by PTVNews

[HearstArgyleFan90 42]

Here's an article about the new set in DC; Norah got a glimpse, but it's still under construction.   So I suppose the CBS Evening News is going to move to Washington next month sometime probably, if not the end of this month.

 

https://www.newscaststudio.com/2019/10/19/cbs-evening-news-dc-studio-preview/

Edited October 25, 2019 by HearstArgyleFan90

[Chopper4 36]

Is it gonna be a dance club or a news studio?   Or maybe Studio 54 ?

 

[TSSZNews 1051]

It's weird because the previous FTN studio was perfectly serviceable for the Evening News and was only a year or so old - and IIRC Norah anchored EN from there a couple times and it looked really good.

 

On 10/24/2019 at 5:08 PM, PTVNews said:

 

Interesting idea to move the Evening News to a different time slot, but I'm not sure if it would be better. I imagine most people have heard the news of the day by that point, and are more interested in relaxing with entertainment content before bed, rather than news. I wonder what it would be like if primetime across the country moved from 7pm-10pm, local news 10-11pm, then network news at 11pm, with the late shows at 11:30pm?

 

An 11PM or otherwise late national news won't work - too many are in bed by that hour and it would probably need to be "edgy" to have a snowball's chance. What I do think would work is someone expanding their evening newscast to an hour each night, so there's more opportunity to produce and air stories with depth and not try to jam everything most of the public already knows into 90 second packages--basically put on a watered down 60 Minutes, but every night. That's basically what Scott Pelley's Evening News was, and even in a 30 minute slot it was excellent.

 

As the syndication market falters and more programming's coming in-house, I wonder what network would have the guts to try it. CBS, honestly, is a prime candidate. Their syndie arm just dropped the Insider and while Inside Edition filled the hole in a lot of markets, that time could absolutely be spent putting better content on the air. I bet plenty of station groups would love to not have to pay for another half-hour of programming for their stations.

Edited October 25, 2019 by TSSZNews

[atlnewsfan03 78]

4 hours ago, TSSZNews said:

It's weird because the previous FTN studio was perfectly serviceable for the Evening News and was only a year or so old - and IIRC Norah anchored EN from there a couple times and it looked really good.

 

 

An 11PM or otherwise late national news won't work - too many are in bed by that hour and it would probably need to be "edgy" to have a snowball's chance. What I do think would work is someone expanding their evening newscast to an hour each night, so there's more opportunity to produce and air stories with depth and not try to jam everything most of the public already knows into 90 second packages--basically put on a watered down 60 Minutes, but every night. That's basically what Scott Pelley's Evening News was, and even in a 30 minute slot it was excellent.

 

As the syndication market falters and more programming's coming in-house, I wonder what network would have the guts to try it. CBS, honestly, is a prime candidate. Their syndie arm just dropped the Insider and while Inside Edition filled the hole in a lot of markets, that time could absolutely be spent putting better content on the air. I bet plenty of station groups would love to not have to pay for another half-hour of programming for their stations.

NBC wanted to experiment with expanding Nightly News from half-hour to full-hour back in the early 80s.  Those plans never materialized.  NYT article from 1981: https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/20/arts/stations-board-passes-one-hour-nbc-news.html

 

If CBS were to expand from half-hour to full-hour, one of a couple scenarios would have to occur.  Easy scenario I could think of would be CBS (A) rescheduling daytime line-up...

The Price Is Right at 11AM eastern

The Young & The Restless at 1PM eastern

The Talk at 2PM eastern

The Bold & The Beautiful at 3PM eastern

CBS having the option of shorten Let's Make A Deal to half-hour, or cancel LMAD for either a new half-hour soap or expand B&B to full-hour.  Or if CBS wanted to move The Talk to 3PM eastern, and put B&B in 2PM eastern.  CBSEN air 6:30-7:30PM eastern or 7-8PM eastern.

(B) CBS convincing its affiliates to air hour-long CBSEN, and having O'Donnell personally visit each of the affiliates.

 

The only successful hour-long network evening news program would be PBS Newshour seen on most PBS member stations.  It would be interesting to see whether or not NBC would also want to revisit the hour-long Nightly News idea again, or if ABC could be thinking the same thing with World News Tonight.  Only time will tell.

[MediaZone4K 2165]

Who is running the graphics at CBS? CTM, Evening News and Special Reports lower thirds look like PowerPoint slide creations. 

[JosiahCubed 280]

22 hours ago, iron_lion said:

Who is running the graphics at CBS? CTM, Evening News and Special Reports lower thirds look like PowerPoint slide creations. 

The graphics have been like that for years, even on CBSN (National, not local).

[MediaZone4K 2165]

 

9 hours ago, JosiahCubed said:

The graphics have been like that for years, even on CBSN (National, not local).

ABC's graphics are no prize either. NBC News has its flaws but it's graphics and studio design are usually the better of the 3 networks. You'd expect TV news graphics to get better as time advances but they seem to be getting worse.

Edited November 27, 2019 by iron_lion

[TheRyan 560]

18 minutes ago, iron_lion said:

 

ABC's graphics are no prize either. NBC News has its flaws but it's graphics and studio design are usually the better of the 3 networks. You'd expect TV news graphics to get better as time advances but they seem to be getting worse.

 

My personal opinion is that graphics design peaked about when HD become commonplace on local stations around America.  Now, it's quickly becoming an overload of blandness and uninspired hoopla.  

 

And specifically in regards to ABC, I think WNT has decent graphics.  It strongly reminds me of the early to mid 2000s when Peter Jennings was still anchoring.  But their L3s aren't very impressive, I will say.

[MediaZone4K 2165]

 

23 hours ago, TheRyan said:

 

My personal opinion is that graphics design peaked about when HD become commonplace on local stations around America.  Now, it's quickly becoming an overload of blandness and uninspired hoopla.  

 

And specifically in regards to ABC, I think WNT has decent graphics.  It strongly reminds me of the early to mid 2000s when Peter Jennings was still anchoring.  But their L3s aren't very impressive, I will say.

Agreed about modern TV graphics being bland. Graphics are so flat and dull now. 

 

In regards to HD, high-definition has not been kind to cheaply produced daytime television, many local newscasts included. Case and point being Tamron Hall's talk show and 'The Real' talk show. The lighting on 'The Real' especially is so fluorescent and washed out. 

Edited November 28, 2019 by iron_lion

[WWUpdate 1291]

31 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

 

My personal opinion is that graphics design peaked about when HD become commonplace on local stations around America.

 

I hated that period. It seemed that every open back then was full of glossy, spinning spaceship-like objects with no point to them -- and a total lack of elegance and sophistication. It made the news look like a computer game.

 

The trend towards clean, fresh, elegant lines in design is global -- and it goes beyond TV graphics. Right now, Europe is leading the way in television design. The French, for instance, continue to impress me in this regard. Decades ago, the U.S. led the field, but I'm afraid this hasn't been the case for years.

Edited November 27, 2019 by WWUpdate

[TheRyan 560]

3 hours ago, WWUpdate said:

 

I hated that period. It seemed that every open back then was full of glossy, spinning spaceship-like objects with no point to them -- and a total lack of elegance and sophistication. It made the news look like a computer game.

 

The trend towards clean, fresh, elegant lines in design is global -- and it goes beyond TV graphics. Right now, Europe is leading the way in television design. The French, for instance, continue to impress me in this regard. Decades ago, the U.S. led the field, but I'm afraid this hasn't been the case for years.

 

That's alright if other countries want to trend a certain way with TV graphics.  Other countries' media outlets have to make decisions that work for themselves.  Trends occur differently in each country--some more than others.  But what works in France or Germany may not always work in America, and vice versa.  

 

We now know when CBS Evening News will make that move to D.C. officially.  It will be the first week of December.

 

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/cbs-evening-news-to-air-from-d-c-starting-early-december

Edited November 27, 2019 by TheRyan

[WWUpdate 1291]

24 minutes ago, TheRyan said:

 

That's alright if other countries want to trend a certain way with TV graphics.  Other countries' media outlets have to make decisions that work for themselves.  Trends occur differently in each country--some more than others.  But what works in France or Germany may not always work in America, and vice versa.  

 

Right, but other U.S.-based designers are doing some stellar work, just not in TV news (for the most part). What has made Apple such a successful brand over the years? For the most part, it wasn't (just) the technology, but rather the company's commitment to elegant, graceful design -- from the products themselves and the packaging to the stores where they are sold. That approach has helped Apple to thrive even though its products are (arguably) overpriced. Likewise, many American websites are global trend-setters in terms of design.

 

There is no reason why we should not expect equally good design on television. The U.S. certainly has the talent to lead the world, but it's not doing that.

Edited November 27, 2019 by WWUpdate

[MediaZone4K 2165]

20 hours ago, TheRyan said:

 

That's alright if other countries want to trend a certain way with TV graphics.  Other countries' media outlets have to make decisions that work for themselves.  Trends occur differently in each country--some more than others.  But what works in France or Germany may not always work in America, and vice versa.  

 

We now know when CBS Evening News will make that move to D.C. officially.  It will be the first week of December.

 

https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/cbs-evening-news-to-air-from-d-c-starting-early-december

I highly doubt Evening News moving to D.C. will help the show in any way. The whole 'closer to our nation's power source' angle IMO isn't special.  IDK what they can do to stand out at this point. Perhaps a focus on international hard news might be unique in comparison to the U.S .focus on the other networks. In the extreme case, if the network were to replace Norah, what standout talent really exists at the network right now?  Lol, if they gave it to Ted Kopel I'd definately tune in.  

Edited November 28, 2019 by iron_lion

[Geoffrey 858]

7 minutes ago, iron_lion said:

I highly doubt Evening News moving to D.C. will help the show in any way. The whole 'closer to our nation's power source' angle IMO isn't special.  IDK what they can do to stand out at this point. Perhaps a focus on international hard news might be unique in comparison to the U.S .focus on the other networks. In the extreme case, if the network were to replace Norah, what standout talent really exists at the network right now?  Lol, if they gave it to Ted Kopel I'd definately tune in.  

 

From the B&C article:

Quote

O’Donnell stressed that CBS Evening News will not be “a Washington broadcast.”

 

I think that's a mistake.  I wish CBS would use the Washington location as a reason to focus on politics.  It could be the political broadcast as a way to differentiate itself from the others.  While ABC and NBC lead with the latest weather event, CBS could focus on what's happening in politics.  There sure won't be a shortage of political drama anytime soon.

 

But that's not going to happen.  Apparently it'll be the same broadcast in a different studio.  I'm sure that'll work.

 

[TSSZNews 1051]

34 minutes ago, Geoffrey said:

I think that's a mistake.  I wish CBS would use the Washington location as a reason to focus on politics.  It could be the political broadcast as a way to differentiate itself from the others.  While ABC and NBC lead with the latest weather event, CBS could focus on what's happening in politics.  There sure won't be a shortage of political drama anytime soon.

 

That's the big problem with the show moving to Washington, though--does the American public really want even the perception of another newscast focused on politics when there are so many dedicated to the cause, and so many speaking to any number of different politically-minded choirs?

 

I'm not saying leading with weather every night is the way forward, either. There's room for one of the national newscasts to do in-depth reporting every night, CBS would fit the bill like a glove, and they used to do it during the Pelley era. Even something akin to CBC's current format of The National where it's not a clean introduction of the news of the day, but rather an analytical approach to the news with investigative reporting sprinkled in, would work.

 

Instead, they're trying to copy ABC and it shows.

 

[TheRyan 560]

They should've stayed with Jeff Glor.  In fact, I would put him back as evening news anchor, in about 2 seconds, if I was in charge.   He at least tried to appear impartial while having genuine care for those he reported about.   He was a refreshing throwback to Peter Jennings and it's a shame they dumped him.   The network should consider itself fortunate he didn't go to a different news organization.  It was a class act the way he signed off...not about him, but those who's faces rarely make it to TV.

Edited November 28, 2019 by TheRyan

[Geoffrey 858]

1 minute ago, TheRyan said:

They should've stayed with Jeff Glor.  In fact, I would put him back as evening news anchor, in about 2 seconds, if I was in charge.   He at least tried to appear impartial while having genuine care for those he reported about.   He was a refreshing throwback to Peter Jennings and it's a shame they dumped him.   The network should consider itself fortunate he didn't go to a different news organization.

 

I like Jeff but felt he was a bit weak and bland as a lead network anchor. I preferred Scott Pelley.  His writing was solid and I felt the broadcast chose the right stories to lead with.  Once Pelley left, it felt like the broadcast became less serious and it stopped becoming required viewing for me.

[MediaZone4K 2165]

IMO, Politics is being done at nauseum by the networks. Look at MSNBC going full blown overkill on Trump coverage. Norah uprooting herself to go to D.C. just feels unnecesary given her uncertain future at the anchor desk. Look at John Dickerson. He gave up Face the Nation for CTM only to be shifted again to 60 Minutes. 

 

Outside of Norah, I think the struggle at CBS is that it feels generic and bland. IMO this includes sets, graphics, and anchor talent (minus 60mins & CBS Sunday Morning). The same could be said about its local O&Os, and CBSN (local) as well. None of the current talent on WCBS 2 in New York for example really stand out or have a commanding presence. The entertainment side of the network, though it does well in the ratings, has that generic ion televsion feel too. CBS literally pumps out a cookie cutter crime drama (some are actually pretty good) or sitcom at will call. Since the ratings are great in that regard, it aint broke so they won't fix it.

Edited November 28, 2019 by iron_lion

[rkolsen 1684]

1 hour ago, iron_lion said:

Norah uprooting herself to go to D.C. just feels unnecesary given her uncertain future at the anchor desk. 

She’s more like heading home. Her husband has moderately high end restaurants (which are great) around DC and Maryland along with two restaurants at Regan National and Dulles.  She was based there before she got the CTM job and she was flying herself & and kids back to DC on one of the shuttles every weekend. 
 

[Action Newsroom 1277]

The new DC set has debuted tonight (December 2).

Here's a sneak peek. 

 

I really like it. Despite the strong CNN vibe going on, it fits the program very well. I hope for a variety of looks to come, but the Insta-story on Norah's page last month showed that can happen.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Action Newsroom

[10Viewer 334]

I like that they are differentiating themselves from the pack. I think Norah is the right person and I hope the move to D.C. will generate a return on their investment. I will definitely give CBS a try although I think NBC has a might tighter newscast.

 

I think the time might be right for a primetime network newscast. 

[Action Newsroom 1277]

With the new set comes a refresh on the current EN graphics package. I'm mixed on them - I like that there is more color, gradients and variety (lines, time countdown and squares?) to it, but it looks very similar to World News Tonight's current look (brighter shade of blue use of the U.S. map in the open), which is not a great thing.

[10Viewer 334]

They should get rid of the white bar at the bottom of the screen. Or make it blue. Kinda distracting.

 

Thought the close was kind of weird with the camera moving upward into the rafters (?) or whatever above the studio. 

Edited December 3, 2019 by 8Viewer

[TheRyan 560]

Still amazed they didn't get a larger studio for CBS Evening News.  The studio is nice enough but they should have gone with something bigger for a move as monumental and historic as this.   To me, the studio is a downgrade from their CBSTM studio in NYC.