Rethink Overload

Post details:
• A look at the new "Early Show" graphics

CBS News has been trying to find its voice. Since Katie Couric debuted as the anchor and managing editor of the “Evening News” in September of 2006, the news division’s flagship program has struggled for ratings even hitting rock bottom with record low numbers towards the end of last month (May 2008), according to TVNewser. What began as a refreshing take of the news – meant, I suppose for a younger audience – changed into a somewhat lackluster carbon copy of its fellow evening newscasts – meant and mainly watched by a much older demographic.

I note that this twentysomething writing this blog is a huge fan of Ms. Couric and of the newscast – including the graphics package, set and music composed by Academy Award winner James Horner.

But today I’m not writing to focus on the “Evening News.” Instead, I want to look at another CBS News program: “The Early Show.”

The show is a youngling compared to NBC’s “The Today Show” and ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Early” premiered Nov. 1, 1999 – NBC, Jan. 14, 1952, and ABC, Nov. 3, 1975 – and is relatively still trying to find its voice.


On Monday (6/10), a new graphics package debuted, showing an investment by CBS into its morning news entity. Since I’m interested in news graphics, I have a brief history (see photo): The first logo for “Early” that I can remember was used from fall 2002 until Oct. 27, 2006. The soft logo and graphics set were replaced by a more hard-hitting look more closely resembling the newly debuted “Evening News.” I was not a fan of this period of graphics. Then at the beginning of this year, the show was rejuvenated with a nicer set and a three-dimensional, shinny logo which spun and swooped around. While an impressive logo, lower thirds were mainly static and a personal touch was missing from the graphics package, while the set was very nice and modernly designed. The new logo and open, along with lower thirds, are quite impressive. I particularly enjoy the half sun/CBS Eye logo over the title. The theme colors are vibrant and closely resemble (funny, not the “Evening News”) NBC and ABC – with used or reds and oranges; though the main logos are slightly different. The theme music was a decent upgrade from before, with hints of resemblance to James Horner’s theme. However, I would like to see anchor mugs in the open, but the anchor format is a little different than over at NBC or ABC, and there is a growing trend against longer introductions and TV titles longer than five seconds.

For all of these reasons, along with a plethora of executive producer and anchor changes, I titled this post “Rethink Overload,” for CBS is in this mode currently.

But maybe all of the changes are working…

For the 2007-2008 TV season, “Early” may have been a distant third with a 2.89 million total viewer average (compared with “Today” and “GMA” at 5.69 million and 4.76 million, respectively), but the CBS show grew the most of the three network morning shows, according to TVNewser.

With that, I wish CBS News luck. And I hope the current format of “The Early Show” will stick around for more than six months. If not, I’ll have to revisit the topic… and who wants that? :-)


Update:

I found a clip of the first 10 minutes of Monday's "Early" HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In Memoriam: Thank you for the journey, Roger Ebert

Image
Each week, my routine was the same. After watching the latest offering from Hollywood on the big screen, I composed my thoughts and analysis and wrote my review. Then, I read what Roger Ebert thought about the movie. This final step was important to me — week in and week out. If Ebert loved a movie I disliked, why was that? He always provided great commentary and gave me reasons to admire a certain film more or dislike it more. He has always been an important validator for me. It’s like we had a conversation about a movie each week. And now I’m on my own. I was devastated to hear about the loss of Ebert. He taught us all about movies and life. The New York Times called him “ A Critic for the Common Man .” He was the consummate writer, journalist, film critic and human being. Ebert just celebrated his 46th year as film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times . I always admired Ebert’s ability to draw on his life experiences when reviewing a film. The first line of his 2011 mem...
Read more

Recent Star cuts represent growing trend

Post details: • Kansas City Star announced job cuts • Graphic designer creates Google Map to track cuts On Tuesday’s front page (6/17), the Kansas City Star staffer Dan Margolies wrote the Missouri-based newspaper is cutting 120 jobs (about 10 percent of its work force) – about 20 to 22 positions are expected to be eliminated in the newsroom. “These cuts are part of the way we must respond as we strategically realign our company for success in this digital age,” said Star Publisher Mark Zieman, who also called the move “a painful but necessary step,” in a memo to employees Monday. Zieman cited reductions in revenue because of increased competition and the current economic downturn as reasons for the cut. The Star is “struggling to replace lost print advertising revenue quickly enough with new online revenue,” the article stated. (Having one of the worst designed newspaper Web sites in the country and one that is hard to navigate, I can see why the Star is having problems online.) Oth...
Read more

Week one in Chautauqua

Image
Looking out the window of the tour, I thought to myself, "Where am I? What is this place?" That was last Tuesday afternoon, June 16th. Today, I'm still asking that same question to myself - if only to a smaller extent. I am spending the summer as a design editor at the Chautauqua Institution's daily newspaper, the Chautauquan Daily . I'll be here at this utopia-like place until the end of August. That may answer the first question I asked myself, but there's still the second... Trying to describe the Institution is very hard. Over dinner Tuesday night, Institution president Tom Becker gave us a better idea of the place. It's like chocolate in that it's incomparable to anything else, he said. For me, Chautauqua is like many things: a resort, a summer home or lake house, a small college town, Disney World and, in a sense, Monaco. On Monday, resident archivist and historian Jon Schmitz stopped by the newsroom and helped describe the Institution anecdo...
Read more