The Bottom Line
The Early Show, since its news making debut featuring The Today Show former and popular host Bryant Gumbel, has struggled (at least by viewer perception) as the younger sibling of the two bigger morning shows. But this is its blessing, as it experiments with format changes and is always fresh and a little different.
Pros
- Fresh
- Inviting
Cons
- Same as other morning shows
- Not as established as other shows
- Formats change frequently
Description
- Airs Monday through Saturday at 7 a.m. EST on CBS
- The Early Show will be immortalized for its 2002 in-the-kitchen feature with Martha Stewart.
- At the time, Stewart was embroiled in a stock fraud scandal.
- Jane Clayson asked her pointedly about the scandal, at which point Stewart grew visibly upset.
- Stewart then ceased her appearances on the program.
- The show’s theme song is an instrumental version of Sting’s hit song “Brand New Day.”
Guide Review - Overview: The Early Show
The Early Show blew into town in 1999 with Bryant Gumbel as its notable host. At the time, it seemed that the program would either give stalwart The Today Show and No. 2 Good Morning America a real run for their money. Instead it floundered in third place as many believed it to be just a Today clone – and a less interesting one at that.
Then, in 2002, the format was switched around and Gumbel and his co-host Jane Clayson were replaced by a team of four hosts -- Julie Chen, Harry Smith, Hannah Storm, Rene Syler, and weatherman Dave Price. Since then, ratings have steadily grown, though not enough to challenged either of the networks.
The Early Show’s format flows much the way a newspaper might, with national and world news reports and interviews up front in the first hour, with lighter human interest and entertainment news following in the later hours.
