Norah O’Donnell will return to “CBS Mornings” as co-anchor today, the first move in what CBS News plans as a significant overhaul of the long-struggling program.
CBS News told staffers Thursday that O’Donnell, the former “CBS Evening News” anchor and a full-time “60 Minutes” correspondent, will join Gayle King and Nate Burleson on the morning desk. The show is expected to pick up a faster pace and more live interviews. People familiar with the plans, who were not authorized to speak publicly, said there is also discussion of making it more of a conversation program in the mold of MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”
The internal memo announcing her return was written by “CBS Mornings” senior producer Jon Tower, who once worked on that show.
O’Donnell, 52, was part of the co-host team that delivered CBS its strongest morning ratings in three decades. She, King and Charlie Rose launched “CBS This Morning” in 2012 and saw viewership rise for five straight years. Ratings dropped after Rose left in 2017 following sexual harassment allegations.
The program was rebranded “CBS Mornings” in 2021 and adopted the theme music of “CBS Sunday Morning,” but it never delivered the in-depth journalism promised or attracted a larger audience. It has remained a distant third behind NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and this year hit record lows, a decline compounded by the cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
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| Ratings Graphic Courtesy of RoadMN |
O’Donnell left mornings in 2019 to anchor the “CBS Evening News.” That broadcast stayed in third place behind ABC and NBC but outperformed John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, who replaced her in 2025 and lasted only a year before Tony Dokoupil took over.
She later settled into a senior correspondent and contributor role at “60 Minutes,” avoided recent controversies at CBS News after Bari Weiss became editor in chief, and took on major assignments.
That willingness to step up led to her promotion to full-time “60 Minutes” correspondent and now to the center of the morning-show reboot.
O’Donnell joined CBS News in 2011 as chief White House correspondent after 12 years at NBC News.