CBS Evening News

[MorningNews 1528]

On 2/8/2025 at 6:29 PM, Amra said:

I don't think it's particularly egregious. When Janet Shamlian introduced her piece with "as we made our way around the middle of the country reporting this week..." doesn't sound like a lack of news coverage or that it isn't on the daily record because the doctor said it was only wednesday. It's a look back on the week and it is part of the daily record. This is being overblown.

I admittedly hadn’t seen the report so the post was the only context I was going off of. 
 

Again, I think the approach of not regurgitating every element of the last 12-24 hours is admirable.

[TheNewsTV 262]

From what little I've seen, Plus seems to be the more traditional format. (It had headlines at the beginning)

 

[TheRolyPoly 2623]

1 hour ago, Yayan4155 said:

Tonight on CBS News 24/7 will be the debut of CBS Evening News Plus.

 

With this, schedule changes...

• KCBS now airs the CBS Evening News at 4:00 with Plus at 4:30 while keeping the second EN airing at 6:30.
• KPIX now airs the CBS Evening News at 4:00 and drops their 4:30pm news to air Plus.
• KOVR airs Plus LIVE at 4:00pm PT, but that also means that KOVR now starts their local news at 4:30 instead.
• WFOR drops their 7:00pm news to air Plus.

Edited February 11 by TheRolyPoly

[ABC 7 Denver 1734]

3 minutes ago, TheNewsTV said:

From what little I've seen, Plus seems to be the more traditional format. (It had headlines at the beginning)

 

 

And apparently on a Green Screen set that mimics the originating one.

[JosiahCubed 282]

5 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

And apparently on a Green Screen set that mimics the originating one.

I don't think that's a green screen set. It looks like the actual set. The back floor of the set is a screen.

[freelanceproducer 183]

5 hours ago, ABC 7 Denver said:

 

And apparently on a Green Screen set that mimics the originating one.

He anchors from the regular CBSEN studio.
 

It’s worth noting the a majority of the new studio is simply video walls. All that surrounds John in the attached image (from Monday night) is a single U shaped video wall. The “monitor” Weijia is in - totally fake. 

I attached a pic of the building timelapse showing all the video walls and floor. 

 

The only actual set pieces are the wooden header, the desk, and the floor in front of it. In fact, the floor behind it is also a video wall. You’ll notice they pretape a lot of segments (including the penny one attached) on their set - it’s actually really creative.  

Edited February 11 by freelanceproducer

[ABC 7 Denver 1734]

18 hours ago, freelanceproducer said:

He anchors from the regular CBSEN studio.
 

It’s worth noting the a majority of the new studio is simply video walls. All that surrounds John in the attached image (from Monday night) is a single U shaped video wall. The “monitor” Weijia is in - totally fake. 

I attached a pic of the building timelapse showing all the video walls and floor. 

 

The only actual set pieces are the wooden header, the desk, and the floor in front of it. In fact, the floor behind it is also a video wall. You’ll notice they pretape a lot of segments (including the penny one attached) on their set - it’s actually really creative.  

 

Ahhh. No wonder there are no shadows on their feet.

[MediaZone4K 2284]

On 2/10/2025 at 7:09 PM, TheRolyPoly said:

 

With this, schedule changes...

• KCBS now airs the CBS Evening News at 4:00 with Plus at 4:30 while keeping the second EN airing at 6:30.
• KPIX now airs the CBS Evening News at 4:00 and drops their 4:30pm news to air Plus.
• KOVR airs Plus LIVE at 4:00pm PT, but that also means that KOVR now starts their local news at 4:30 instead.
• WFOR drops their 7:00pm news to air Plus.

I wonder why they opted to have only one of them anchor Plus.

 

Contrary to our speculation of an eventual solo broadcast starring Maurice, John was the one chosen to solo anchor Plus.

 

John is a fine journalist but I wonder why CBS consistently chooses him As an anchor when they reshuffle broadcasts.

[ATLNewsExpert 463]

19 hours ago, freelanceproducer said:

He anchors from the regular CBSEN studio.
 

It’s worth noting the a majority of the new studio is simply video walls. All that surrounds John in the attached image (from Monday night) is a single U shaped video wall. The “monitor” Weijia is in - totally fake. 

I attached a pic of the building timelapse showing all the video walls and floor. 

 

The only actual set pieces are the wooden header, the desk, and the floor in front of it. In fact, the floor behind it is also a video wall. You’ll notice they pretape a lot of segments (including the penny one attached) on their set - it’s actually really creative.  

Also worth mentioning that since the floor is also a monitor, they have done segments where the from floor to ceiling is entirely graphics like what I'm attaching.

[Jase 1081]

8 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

I wonder why they opted to have only one of them anchor Plus.

 

Contrary to our speculation of an eventual solo broadcast starring Maurice, John was the one chosen to solo anchor Plus.

 

John is a fine journalist but I wonder why CBS consistently chooses him As an anchor when they reshuffle broadcasts.

Dickerson is a good interviewer/storyteller, but isn’t particularly great when it comes to breaking news coverage. He appeared tense and twice stumbled over his words during the EN the day after the DC plane/helicopter collision.

 

Plus, he tends to not pay attention to the person he’s talking to (often writing on his note pad instead). In some ways, he is over analytical. DuBois, overall, is the better of the two, imo.

 

Not sure why CBS has been so enamored with Dickerson when they have/had other male anchors/correspondents who are just as good (if not better). I still say he must have some dirt on people…

[GodfreyGR 693]

14 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

I wonder why they opted to have only one of them anchor Plus.

 

Contrary to our speculation of an eventual solo broadcast starring Maurice, John was the one chosen to solo anchor Plus.

 

John is a fine journalist but I wonder why CBS consistently chooses him As an anchor when they reshuffle broadcasts.

1) Money. There are certainly far fewer eyeballs watching Plus than the regular CBSEN- that means lower ad rates and lower revenue.

2) Not sure, but John might very well have it in his contract that he gets to do a solo show as he has seemingly had one either on air or on the streamer since his stint on FTN (with a few small gaps)

[Amra 171]

John Dickerson is the Harry Smith/Anthony Mason of CBS in this era

[ABC 7 Denver 1734]

On 2/10/2025 at 10:53 PM, freelanceproducer said:

He anchors from the regular CBSEN studio.
 

It’s worth noting the a majority of the new studio is simply video walls. All that surrounds John in the attached image (from Monday night) is a single U shaped video wall. The “monitor” Weijia is in - totally fake. 

I attached a pic of the building timelapse showing all the video walls and floor. 

 

The only actual set pieces are the wooden header, the desk, and the floor in front of it. In fact, the floor behind it is also a video wall. You’ll notice they pretape a lot of segments (including the penny one attached) on their set - it’s actually really creative.  

 

So CBS News built a volume stage.

[Glimmer 283]

After only six months in the job, CBS News chief Adrienne Roark (one of the masterminds behind the CBSEN revamp) is leaving to reportedly run all national news operations at Tegna

[MidwestTV 1263]

1 hour ago, Glimmer said:

After only six months in the job, CBS News chief Adrienne Roark (one of the masterminds behind the CBSEN revamp) is leaving to reportedly run all national news operations at Tegna

That's pretty crazy. My first thought is if it has to do with that Kamala Harris interview. Article mentions that too.

[RealNews18 226]

Here we go..
 

https://nypost.com/2025/02/20/media/cbs-backtracks-on-evening-news-revamp-just-weeks-after-launch-with-network-boss-in-the-hot-seat-sources/?utm_medium=social&sr_share=facebook&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=nypost&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1dXgc6Joec9yQ-TOnvUkTlX6KRUpN9ix7UfTNnD4bV9ietmsiX91A0seA_aem_nXucqpMNW0s7gF2JJKerjw

Edited February 21 by RealNews18

[TheRolyPoly 2623]

It looks like the format is almost over before it really began and took off...

 

They may shelve "Plus" too in the process if MAJOR changes go down.

[E. R. 70]

So I'm guessing they'll be doing a more refined national newscast, then?

[Spring Rubber 717]

I think a happy medium would be to cover all of the day's news in the A block while doing longer-form stories the rest of the show.

[Jase 1081]

20 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

It looks like the format is almost over before it really began and took off...

 

They may shelve "Plus" too in the process if MAJOR changes go down.

 

'Plus' shouldn't have been launched in the first place. The focus should have been on strengthening 'Evening News' before even thinking about having a companion program. They didn't launch CBS Mornings + until they felt good about where CBS Mornings was (format, ratings, etc...).

 

 

45 minutes ago, Spring Rubber said:

I think a happy medium would be to cover all of the day's news in the A block while doing longer-form stories the rest of the show.

 

Sure, in theory. I think the question for them is balancing what's worth reporting on and what isn't and how much time do you devote to certain things. It's not surprising that they making adjustments (...that was to be expected).

[MediaZone4K 2284]

On 2/21/2025 at 4:05 PM, Spring Rubber said:

I think a happy medium would be to cover all of the day's news in the A block while doing longer-form stories the rest of the show.

I agree. Begin the show with that daily news roundup, but instead extend it to 90 second VOs or VO/SOTs for the first 2-5 mins, then get into feature reporting for the remainder.

 

If CBS torches their best revamp of EN since Bob Schiffer, that would be very unfortunate. 

 

To the critics: Every news outlet covers the same thing, it's not a sin that CBS decided to go in a different direction.

 

I really hope the audience gives this a chance. It's a jolting transition because we've been hardwired to fast paced high story count newscasts like the competition. But this is a level of quality rare for American TV news that we'd more see from PBS or Europeran sources like BBC and France 24. I hope people will open their minds to this.

 

If this crashes and burns, I don't think the evening news can get much better than this. Just give the timeslot back to the affiliates.

Edited February 23 by MediaZone4K

[Geoffrey 876]

On 2/21/2025 at 5:14 PM, Jase said:

'Plus' shouldn't have been launched in the first place. The focus should have been on strengthening 'Evening News' before even thinking about having a companion program.

 

Plus is essentially a different broadcast. I doubt its existence takes resources away from the main broadcast, especially since they've already had a 7 p.m. streaming show.

[Amra 171]

This is what happens always. The viewers always yell "gee we want a quality newscast". You give them an excellent broadcast and then they are like "lol sike not like that".

[Yayan4155 36]

Quote

 

The reimagined newscast recorded gains in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo for the first time since its revamp.

 

https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/week-of-feb-17-2025-evening-news-ratings/

[HanSolo 198]

On 2/23/2025 at 9:33 PM, Amra said:

This is what happens always. The viewers always yell "gee we want a quality newscast". You give them an excellent broadcast and then they are like "lol sike not like that".

Somewhat, but it’s more a group of vocal wannabes who shout that some

large part of the population wants that, despite evidence to the contrary, because of course they know better than anyone else. And in the cases when such an effort fails, it is because it wasn’t done the right way, or not marketed the right way, or didn’t have time or whatever combination of reasons that ensures the complainer’s theory is never actually incorrect. 
 

There’s little question there is some audience for all manner of different approaches, but not all have a sustainable financial model. What there isn’t evidence of is a large, untapped and economically workable audience for the more staid, in-depth approach on a daily basis. Maybe CBS can chart that path and find the balance in which the economics work. Maybe someone else can. Take the swing, and see what happens. But also don’t be surprised if it just doesn’t click.