CNN hopes it can warm people up to its new morning program.
The Warner Bros. Discovery-backed outlet has released a suite of fresh promos for “CNN This Morning” that show hosts Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins hanging out over coffee, a first look at the trio and their chemistry as the network bets on a new A.M. format to help vie more competitively in one of the most competitive time periods for TV news.
“We want familiarity in the morning,” says Ryan Kadro, the CNN development executive who has been working on the program. “We really want the audience to feel at home with the show.” The new program kicks off November 1.
In a marked change from how CNN typically presents its programs, the new promos show the hosts chatting in a restaurant, reflecting on how they know each other and what morning news audiences crave. Collins acknowledges she was in middle school when Lemon first appeared on CNN, and on-air graphics emphasize the trio’s banter. “It’s really all about the conversation,” says Lemon, clad in a white jacket and white turtleneck.
Gone are the Zuckerian flourishes of CNN’s recent past: no warnings about taking on the administration or holding newsmakers to account.
The three anchors may not adhere to the rules of morning television. “You’re going to see a little more relaxed approach from these hosts,” says Kadro, and not only from their conversational tone. “What they are wearing that day is probably close to what they are going to show up in,” he says.
“CNN This Morning” is one of the bigger programming salvos by CNN under its new leader, Chris Licht, one of the driving forces behind the creation of recent A.M. standouts like MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and CBS’ “CBS This Morning.” Kadro also worked as an executive producer at “CBS This Morning.”CNN’s current morning program, “New Day,” was meant to help set the network’s agenda for the day ahead — a phrase often used by executives in the past. Now “CNN This Morning” seems poised to give viewers a look at all the stories taking place around the world before the audience needs to set off on its daily routine.
Yet the burden of carrying the show forward will fall on its new trio. The hallmark of a Licht production has always been conversation, whether it be the chatter between Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and a roundtable of contributors on “Morning Joe”; the back-and-forth of Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell around a circular glass table — not a front-facing desk — on “CBS This Morning”; or the headlines-focused monologues of Stephen Colbert on CBS “The Late Show.” Lemon, Collins and Harlow have to do the talking.
CNN believes the three anchors have different background than the typical morning anchor. Lemon hails from Louisiana, Collins from Alabama, and Harlow from Minnesota. “We need to cover more of what is happening across America,” says Harlow in the promo.
While cable-news morning shows have in recent years put a strong focus on politics, CNN intends to broaden its horizons, says Kadro. “We want to expand the aperture of the type of stories we tell,” he says. There will be some emphasis on health and wellness, and executives also intend to burnish the wider entertainment properties of Warner Bros. Discovery when appropriate. How about a visit from cast members of HBO’s “House of the Dragon” when the second season is underway?
The show will serve as a sort of fulcrum for all the newsgathering CNN has lined up for viewers, says Kadro. “CNN has a unique superpower,” he notes: “a bigger roster of incredibly talented reporters who know their stories inside and out and are going to leverage that, put it on display every morning.” Ultimately, he says, the name reflects what the network wants viewers to be thinking “Did you see CNN this morning? I was watching CNN this morning…”
If CBS feels like CNN has pilfered certain elements of its intellectual property, it isn’t saying. A CBS News spokesperson declined to comment on whether the news division felt CNN had absconded with any proprietary branding.
