Wide World of Women

After 5 1/2 years, Norah leaves the big chair and will stick around as CBS News Senior Correspondent--doing longform reports on Sunday Morning, primetime specials, and 60 Minutes.

She explained in her final minutes on the air from Washington, D.C., which followed a nice tribute mentioned by none other than--special guest Oprah Winfrey:

https://youtu.be/1o3Tly4IguA?si=SxE57mknKvAXOs6Q

The dual anchors that will be taking over starting on Monday are Maurice DuBois and political correspondent John Dickerson. Also joining will be WCBS weather meteorologist Lonnie Quinn. Both DuBois and Quinn were with CBS New York since 2010. They will be joined by Face The Nation moderator Margaret Brennan, who will continue to be stationed in Washington, D.C.

https://www.paramountpressexpress.com/cbs-news-and-stations/shows/cbs-evening-news-with-norah-odonnell/releases/?view=110106-cbs-news-announces-new-ensemble-team-and-editorial-leadership-for-the-cbs-evening-news

The format will remind some of The National on CBC in Canada. Basically, they lead off with a segment that lasts between 7 to 10 minutes, along with discussions on the top story. A few short segments follow, then it wraps up with a few long form discussions.
All of this without commercials.

My guess is that the rebooted format will be slightly lumpy and may cause some confusion, especially when other 60 Minutes correspondents come on whenever breaking news happens.

Only time will tell with the ratings and of course their revised tagline as they move back to the famed CBS Broadcast Center in New York:

"additive, distinctive and elegant."

They were in last place when she got there, last place when she left, and last place every day in between.
Can the new thing really be any worse?

Agreed, but consider this in context:

CNN is transitioning from their once famous cable network into a digital and streaming juggernaut looking to fit in. Amid a round of mass layoffs affecting around 6 percent of the workforce, what will CNN consider as a digital-first enterprise. In addition, it will be interesting to observe whether it can maintain the network’s influence in a post-linear landscape, and whether Mark Thompson actually has a plan to get there.

Translated, the glory days passed in the late 2000's into the early/mid 2010's. In the case of Norah and others before her--the days of watching the news during the dinner hour have gone the way of Kodak cameras, CNN-SI (Sports Illustrated's ill-fated attempt at putting their journalistic stamp for TV instead of home videos), and ESPNEWS.

all good points but what CNN is doing should have had no impact on O"Donnell, she was supposed to beat ABC & NBC and never did.

The revised format began on Monday.

Here was the breakdown:

Top story occupies the first 8 minutes, with inside reporting ala 60 Minutes. Margaret Brennan provides extra context by adding to the discussion.
That is followed by the "Round Up", their signature evening title on their radio network. Brief reports on the ground from correspondents all over the world.
First commercial break occurs after 10 minutes.

Feature story from around the world lasts for 3 minutes, which then leads into Lonnie Quinn giving a big picture view of the weather--a nationwide view of how much the snow penetrated into the Florida Panhandle was the main point. No emphasis on key storms approaching, or any major temperature swings you typically see in the morning.

The popular "Eye On America" series returns for around 3 1/2 more minutes, which leads into the final commercial break. A short summary of a key topic, in this instance the role of America's firefighters closed out the first show.

One commenter on YouTube said it felt like:
"Very PBS NewsHour meets 60 Minutes meets BBC. Zero sensationalism, no overuse of breaking news, and slower pace."

My first thoughts after seeing the revised format in their return to the famed Studio 47 in New York after over 5 1/2 years when Norah O'Donnell was stationed in Washington, D.C. were:
a) Where was this type of newscast in 2005, when the news became all too sensationalized.
b) Some like this smoother pace, similar to if you are listening to a podcast from NPR. Not real sleepy, but the key figures in each story shows how hard hitting journalism separates this from other networks with the often-too familiar, "here's what you need to know" before hitting the market news and any cool sports story worth talking about.
c) With CBS still languishing in third place, I don't expect this format to last no more than two years.

Any other thoughts I might have missed?

The weather part to me is dumb, people have that on their phone a click away at all times.
And if you live in Topeka Kansas, do you really care what the weather is like in Seattle?

The rest of it sounds interesting, they should’ve been doing a version of 60 minutes all along, it’s only the most popular news show in TV history, why not try to copy it?

That was part of my point, there are only a small handful of news programs that have extended reports--for a lack of a better term.

But with trust in the media at an all-time low, that's where my comment from 2005 would resonate a bit. Good thing there is YouTube for those who want to catch up.
It wasn't so much me watching the stories that Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson were piggybacking off each other, we see that all the time. David Brinkley and Chet Huntley were famous during the late 1960's pulling off the dual-anchor setup, and viewers were hooked.

Rather it felt like, I wanted to hear something that I don't know--even after reading seldom heard news sites that populate the Internet. Let me come away with a nugget, whether it was from their investigative reports or of course with the political angle from one Margaret Brennan.

But you are right, in this day and age--60 Minutes has been and still is the gold standard. Nightline tried at times to copy it for decades, but it has been all shock and awe crime stories every late night.

Basically, you like it or you don't. One show was all I needed to see--and I found it both refreshing and inadequate. It should copy a page from CBC's The National, where they go a full hour on the main stories of the day and they have tons of interviews that don't feel forced--great overall conversations. The ratings tell the final story and I expect it will be gone by the mid-terms in November 2026.

As one might have predicted, CBS dipped into fourth place in the evening news rankings in late February by...
Fox News, The Five.

The more this slide continues, I would be shocked if they didn't make it past November instead of two years that I previously mentioned.