Norah O'Donnell will return to CBS Mornings as a co-host alongside Gayle King and Nate Burleson, starting Tuesday, September 8, the network announced Thursday. O'Donnell, a veteran CBS News journalist, will continue her roles as a full-time correspondent for 60 Minutes and host of the weekly women's health podcast Healthful.
The addition of O'Donnell marks the first step in a broader revamp of the struggling morning program, which has faced declining ratings in recent years. According to sources familiar with the plans, the redesigned show will feature a faster pace, more live interviews, and a format resembling discussion programs like MSNBC’s Morning Joe. The changes aim to revitalize CBS Mornings, which has long trailed NBC’s Today and ABC’s Good Morning America in viewership.
O'Donnell previously co-hosted the show—then called CBS This Morning—with King from 2012 to 2019, a period that saw the program achieve its highest ratings in three decades. The show’s success waned after Charlie Rose departed in 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations, leading to its rebranding as CBS Mornings in 2021. Despite adopting the theme music of CBS Sunday Morning, the revamped program failed to replicate its predecessor’s depth or attract new viewers.
The network’s decision comes as CBS Mornings has hit record lows in audience numbers, partly attributed to the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The memo announcing O'Donnell’s return, written by Jon Tower, a senior producer for the show, described King and O'Donnell as having a “friendship and chemistry that extends beyond the studio”, calling them an ideal team to anchor the program.
O'Donnell brings extensive experience to the role, having covered eight presidential elections and interviewed every living U.S. president, including an exclusive 2024 interview with Pope Francis. Her journalism has earned her multiple awards, including an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2023 for coverage of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, and the Scripps Howard Award for her investigation into sexual assault in the U.S. military. Tower noted in his memo that O'Donnell’s “experience and energy” make her a strong fit for the show’s new direction.