CNN’s new morning show CNN This Morning launched on Tuesday with a news heavy three-hours that nevertheless played up an essential element of rival shows: Conversation and chemistry.
“I probably got two hours sleep,” Don Lemon, formerly part of the network’s nighttime lineup said in the opener, flanked by his co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, as they each quipped about their new gigs at the network.
On a comforting, blond wood set and behind a acrylic desk, with the requisite branded coffee cups at the ready, the three hosts chatted for a bit about Halloween but appeared mindful of striking the right balance of small talk and seriousness, as they led with a report about Iranian plans to ship ballistic missiles to Russia as it wages its war in Ukraine.
Revitalizing CNN’s morning hours is a signature goal of CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Chris Licht, who earlier in his career helped launch MSNBC’s Morning Joe and, after that, CBS’s morning show, distinguishing the shows from mainstays Today and Good Morning America with a heavier emphasis on newsier conversations and hosts’ joint interviews with guests. Licht also tapped Ryan Kadro, who succeeded him as executive producer of the CBS show, to serve in a top content role that included remaking CNN mornings.
The challenge for CBS This Morning will be to lure habit-driven viewers amid fierce competition: Among cable news networks, Fox & Friends wins the timeslot, while Morning Joe has long been influential among New York and D.C. power players.
Elements of the MSNBC and CBS shows are there. CNN This Morning featured other CNN personalities like Audie Cornish and contributors like LZ Granderson, suggesting that a cast of regulars is being established, an element that has worked well for Morning Joe. The name of the show itself is also familiar: This Morning was the moniker for the CBS show before it was rebranded to CBS Mornings last year.
CNN executives want their This Morning to distinguish itself with a wider focus beyond the coasts, with a scope of stories beyond the latest partisan upheavals. The backdrop to the set was an amalgamation of skylines across the country, and various tchotchkes of world landmarks were in the backdrop. Rather than the panel of pundits, there was a heavy focus on reports from CNN correspondents. The debut featured a number of international stories, including reports from Clarissa Ward in Ukraine and Hadas Gold in Jerusalem but, given that the midterms are a week away, politics still was front and center. There were interviews with Democrats John Fetterman and Elissa Slotkin, but also Republicans Brian Kemp and, briefly, Ron Johnson.
There were multiple segments on the attack on Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, and the disconcerting spread of conspiracy theories about the incident. In the third hour, Daniel Dale appeared with a fact check of some of those amplified by the likes of Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr., as their claims were debunked by the latest FBI filing.
Lemon, dressed more casually in a cream green suit and crewneck shirt, still offered some pointed remarks, particularly about the extremism on the right, as he did on his nighttime show.
The segments on the Pelosi attack led to one of the breakout moments of the debut, during an interview with a GOP guest, New Hampshire Chris Sununu.
As Sununu pointed out instances of violent threats from the left, Lemon challenged him.
“You can say that it is both sides, but really, Republicans aren’t speaking out, for the most part in a vehement way,” Lemon said. “…For the most part, silence. Very muted from Republicans about what is happening with violence. And Don Jr. tweeting horrific things. Why don’t more people get in front of the cameras and say, ‘This is awful. This should not happen. This is what Republicans should be doing. I don’t want my party defined by this B.S.’ Why doesn’t that happen?”
“I think you are absolutely right,” Sununu answered, before again pointing out that the danger of political violence is on “both sides.”
Lemon pressed him again.
“When it is on the Democratic side and it does happen, people say it is wrong and it should not happen and they denounce it,” he said. “Democratic leaders come out and they do it immediately. Republicans don’t do that. Are they afraid of Don Jr.? Are they afraid of Donald Trump? Are they afraid to come out and that they are going to lose votes. I’m just being honest. That is the truth. Go back and look at the evidence. So it is not the same thing.”
Sununu responded, “I totally get it,” before saying that “as a whole,” everyone needs to “bring the temperature down.”
Later, in a conversation with surprise guest Bryant Gumbel, Lemon seemed to signal that, even in the softer morning hours, he would not be muted. “I don’t like to both sides things,” he told Gumbel.
The morning show veteran offered some perspective. When Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown was killed in a plane crash in 1996, few Republicans spoke up to offer condolences.
“I went on the air and asked someone if that was politics as usual or just plain bad manners,” Gumbel said. “I got a reprimand from NBC. The network apologized and I didn’t.”
He added, “As I was watching this morning, the more things change the more they remain the same.”
Then he offered some more wisdom to Lemon and other hosts, that will either be reassuring or disconcerting. During his Today days he averaged about three hours of sleep a night.
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