CBS reverts to ‘This Morning’ brand

CBS News is resurrecting “This Morning” name when its new morning show debuts next month.

“CBS This Morning” was previously used by the network from 1987 to 1999, when the network overhauled its morning newscast and renamed it “The Early Show.” Despite numerous anchor lineups, format changes, sets and graphics packages, the show never gained headway in the ratings.

Early this Fall, CBS announced PBS host Charlie Rose and Oprah gal-pal Gayle King would be taking over as hosts of a news-oriented morning program that, at that point, was unnamed.

The name switch provides an interesting parallel to the network’s popular weekend show “CBS News Sunday Morning,” hosted by Charles Osgood, and also brings a sense of nostalgia to the network’s branding. CBS has taken a similar approach to stir up memories of the past by utilizing a Walter Cronkite era-inspired background behind Scott Pelley on the “CBS Evening News” and its “we invented original reporting” campaign.