With back-to-back political conventions, it’s been a very short weekend for hundreds of TV newsers. After the RNC met in Cleveland last week, the DNC gets underway today in Philadelphia.
Two of the three network morning shows, Good Morning America and CBS This Morning, were neighbors on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena last week. This morning CTM is outside at the National Constitution Center on what could be a record hot day in Philadelphia. No need for the blankets that keep the anchors warm inside The Q last week. We caught up with Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell at the RNC, and wanted to know why they think their show is the fastest growing morning program. “Why is that?” Rose asked, flanked by King and O’Donnell. “Because of who’s on my left and my right, that’s why.” The three are about to mark four years together, more than enough time to frequently finish each other’s sentences:
Rose: From the beginning we made a commitment to news. And from the beginning we wanted to ratchet up the engagement of all these storytellers at CBS. And a significant part of it is chemistry. I love being with these two people. We all had a drink last night after the session…
King: We were at the hotel bar and people are saying, ‘Why don’t you go to bed?’
O’Donnell: We said, ‘because we’re busy talking and gossiping.’
Rose: ‘Why do you need to talk to each other, you’ve been with each other all day?’
King: But it is a mutual respect and joy in what we do. You know there have been many anchor teams on CBS in the morning. We haven’t been No. 1 since Captain Kangaroo. So they said ‘we want to run something different’ and you can’t get more different than the three of us all together. Let’s start with that.
Rose: And we’re at that table, and that table adds to the chemistry and you can see it when we go to break, we’re having fun.
TVNewser: They have cranked the AC here in the hall in the mornings, so your wardrobe person James has fleeces for you. And yesterday Gayle you walked over and gave yours to Robin Roberts. What did you get in return?
Rose: They handed us a guest.
O’Donnell: Charlie joked to [ABC News president] James Goldston, ‘Who else have you got?’
Rose: …because yesterday we saw Eric Trump was on GMA, so Ryan Kadro our executive producer said, ‘Norah, get up if you want to…’
King: …and Norah was focused and said, ‘I’m gonna get him.’
O’Donnell: …and I said ‘Eric Trump would you say hi to Charlie and Gayle’ and then he agreed to do us this morning.
King: Chris, we have a front row seat to history. I look at it as an honor and a privilege to be here. And then not only do we have a front row seat. Then we get to share with other people what we’re seeing.
Rose, King and O’Donnell are also all taking part in CBS’s prime time specials during both conventions.
“Lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of heat, is no fun,” says King. “But when you look at what you’re doing and you know this is only temporary and you’re looking at history in action, it’s like, don’t cry for me Argentina.”
CBS’s Gayle King stops to greet Amy Robach, George Stephanopoulos and T.J. Holmes at Good Morning America which was adjacent to the CBS This Morning set at the RNC.