Norah O'Donnell returns to 'CBS Mornings' as co-host

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Set us as preferred Norah O’Donnell is returning to “CBS Mornings” in what is expected to be the start of a significant revamp of the struggling program.CBS News told staffers Thursday that the former anchor of the “CBS Evening News” will become a co-anchor of the morning show on Tuesday Sept.8 alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson.

O’Donnell is also a full-time correspondent at “60 Minutes.”The addition of O’Donnell is the first step in a makeover for “CBS Mornings,” which will be redesigned to have a faster pace and more live interviews, according to people familiar with the plans and were not authorized to discuss them publicly.There is also talk it will become more of a discussion program similar to MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.” The memo announcing her return was written by Jon Tower, a “CBS Mornings” senior producer who once worked on that program.O’Donnell, 52, was part of the trio of co-hosts that gave CBS News the highest ratings in three decades, “CBS This Morning,” when she shared the desk with King and Charlie Rose.The program launched in 2012 and saw its ratings increase for five straight years.

The audience levels fell off when Rose departed the program after he was hit with sexual harassment allegations in 2017.“CBS This Morning” was renamed “CBS Mornings” in 2021, and adapted the theme music of the network’s popular weekend program “CBS Sunday Morning.” But the revamp never lived up to a promise to deliver the same in-depth stories as the Sunday program and failed to draw new viewers.“CBS Mornings” has long been the ratings also-ran in the mornings behind NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” But the program has hit record audience lows this year in part due to the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Hollywood Inc.

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