CNN is dropping the latest iteration of CNN This Morning as part of a shake-up of its morning lineup.Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly have anchored the show since August, after several lineup changes since its debut in the fall of 2022. Kasie Hunt‘s 5 a.m. ET show, known as Early Start, will expand an hour and take on the CNN This Morning title.Changes will go into effect later this month.CNN News Central, meanwhile, will move to 7 a.m. ET and run until 10 a.m. ET, with anchors John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner.Jim Acosta, who has anchored a weekend show, will anchor CNN Newsroom at 10 a.m. ET and Pamela Brown will anchor an 11 a.m. ET hour starting in the spring. Wolf Blitzer will anchor the hour until she returns from maternity leave. Brown’s show will be called The Bulletin with Pamela Brown.CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson said the network is talking to Harlow and Mattingly about new roles at the network.In a note to staffers, Thompson said that the changes mean that the network no longer will produce morning programming from New York, and that the team that produces CNN This Morning will be disbanded. He said that they can apply to other open roles at the network. All of the morning shows will be produced out of Atlanta.“What we are announcing today is a change in strategic direction and not a reflection on the talent, expertise and dedication of the New York based editorial production and operations teams who’ve worked on our morning output – they’re among the best in the business,” Thompson wrote.CNN This Morning was a signature feature of the plans of Thompson’s predecessor, Chris Licht. He teamed Harlow with Kaitlan Collins and Don Lemon, with a new New York studio and a focus on the chemistry and conversation between the three news personalities. But the show failed to make a ratings impact. Lemon was fired from the network in April, after he had seemingly survived the furor over an incident in which he had chatted about when women were “in their prime.” He later apologized. Collins was moved to the primetime lineup in June.CNN This Morning averaged 326,000 viewers in January, as well as 87,000 on an HLN simulcast. That compares to 1.06 million for Fox News’ Fox & Friends and 1.01 million for MSNBC’s Morning Joe.Thompson is retaining CNN News Central, another Licht programming move that streamlined the later morning and afternoon lineup to emphasize the urgency of breaking news and the latest from CNN correspondents. But by moving the AM edition of News Central earlier, the new CNN boss is making way for single-anchor centric news shows at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., even going back to the name Newsroom for a programming bloc.Berman was co-anchor of the previous iteration of CNN’s morning show, New Day, and will be going back to his earlier time period.Mattingly wrote on X/Twitter, “Learned a lot. Slept significantly less. Think the absolute world of our great and wonderfully talented team. Truly grateful for Poppy Harlow. Only regret is I couldn’t deliver a different outcome for them. More later, but meantime see y’all in bright & early in the AM.”
© 2024 Deadline Hollywood.