"Sober" CBS Early Show: Son Of a Bitch, Everything's Real

Erica Hill, Chris Wragge, Rebecca Jarvis

“The Early Show” is one place in the world where viewers never have to wonder where in the world is Matt Lauer. NYT's Alessandra Stanley "Mornings are Sober but Better at CBS."

Stanley: CBS’s morning show is at times so soberly focused on hard news that it looks almost like PBS or C-Span. Or worse: its stolid co-anchors, Chris Wragge and Erica Hill, stare into the camera with a bleak blue backdrop behind them that gives the show the look of a Soviet newscast in the Brezhnev era. The pared-down look and no-nonsense sensibility are signs of how far “The Early Show” trails “Today” on NBC and “Good Morning America” on ABC. It’s also a sign of how weakness can become a strength. “The Early Show” is a morning program for viewers who aren’t morning people.

Rivals serve the news the way some mothers disguise the spinach. Kim Kardashian was a special guest host on “Today” on Friday; a top story was the latest in the case of a wife missing in Aruba. “Good Morning America” focused on whether Amanda Knox hopes to reunite with her Italian ex-boyfriend.