Norah O’Donnell brought BACK to host ‘CBS Mornings’ after seven year absence… weeks after show notched its lowest-rated week in program history
Norah O’Donnell is back hosting CBS Mornings after leaving the show in 2019 to anchor CBS Evening News.
O’Donnell, 52, will join Gayle King and Nate Burleson at the table starting next week, according to a memo sent out by the show’s executive producer on Thursday.
Jon Tower framed the move as a sort of ‘homecoming’ for the star, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Daily Mail.
He reminded his team of O’Donnell and King’s past ‘chemistry’ during their seven years of hosting together.
Tower touted the stint as ‘one of the most memorable partnerships in the history of morning news.’
‘They know each other, respect each other, and – maybe most importantly – genuinely enjoy each other.
‘To put it simply, I can’t think of a team I’d rather watch navigate the news than Gayle, Nate and Norah.’
Ratings, meanwhile, remain historically low for the program. The show recently recorded a dip in ratings that led to its lowest rated week in its history.
Norah O’Donnell, 52, will return to CBS Mornings after a seven year absence, according to a leaked internal memo
O’Donnell, 52, will join Gayle King and Nate Burleson at the table starting next week, executive producer Jon Tower said. The pair have been hosting without a third, permanent cohost. Major Garrett (pictured) and Vladimir Duthiers have often been the ones to stand in
O’Donnell was one of the show’s driving forces during a period of growth.
She co-anchored the show with King, Charlie Rose, and eventually John Dickerson. The latter replaced Rose in 2018 after he was fired when numerous allegations of sexual harassment from women who worked or sought to work with him surfaced.
O’Donnell was promptly promoted to Evening News in 2019, where she stayed until January of last year.
‘It’s time to do something different,’ she said at the time, announcing plans to step back and work as a senior correspondent.
Dickerson replaced her with Maurice DuBois, paving the way for an almost yearlong dual-anchor experiment widely seen as disastrous, ratings-wise. Both men left CBS News late last year, following the appointment of current editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.
Weiss, 42, promoted Tony Dokoupil from CBS Mornings to CBS Evening News shortly thereafter. The primetime broadcast has since failed to bring back the more than 1.2 million viewers sent astray by the experiment.
The ratings situation at Mornings, though, is even worse. Total viewers have fallen about nine percent from this point last year. Both shows are firmly in third place, behind ABC and NBC.
The ratings put Weiss under scrutiny and fueled a search for a permanent third host. Vladimir Duthiers has often been the one to stand in.
A network source told the Mail Thursday that King, 71, played a crucial part in that search, ‘and has been engaged with us on these discussions the entire time.’
She co-anchored the show with King and eventually John Dickerson, after the latter replaced longtime host Charlie Rose in 2018. A series of shuffles have transpired since
King signed a deal in April to stay with Mornings for at least one more year.
‘Gayle is one of the hardest-working and best interviewers in the business, with an unmatched ability to connect with audiences on all topics,’ Tower wrote.
‘Norah adds her unique experience to an already dynamic team, as we ramp up our political coverage this fall leading into the Midterms,’ a network source said.
