Inside ‘CBS Sunday Morning’
This has always been one of my favorite shows. There is a line in a Lionel Richie song that says it all…”easy like a Sunday morning”, and that’s just the way it feels. Actually, that’s the foundation it was built on; to be like the magazine section of the Sunday paper, taken in at a leisurely pace with your morning coffee.
The show has been on since January 29, 1979 and that’s proof that the ‘Sunday Morning’ formula works. The program was created by Robert Northshield and it’s original host Charles Kuralt. The current host of the show is Charles Osgood, who took over duties from Kuralt upon his retirement on April 3, 1994, and has since surpassed Kuralt’s tenure as host. Both are perfect hosts.
This set is located directly across from something we saw here yesterday, the ‘Inside Edition’ greenscreen set in Studio 45 at the CBS Broadcast Center, which is a just over 3000 square feet. When ’60 Minutes’ first began, it shared space with ‘Captain Kangaroo’ and I think it was in this studio.
I’ve always wondered about the show’s trumpet theme. I had always thought the opening was played on a coronet which is smaller than a regular trumpet, but it’s actually played on a piccolo trumpet, which is smaller than a cornet.
The show’s theme is the trumpet fanfare “Abblasen”, attributed to Gottfried Reiche. A recording of the piece on a baroque trumpet by Don Smithers was used as the show’s theme for many years, until producers decided to replace the vinyl recording with a digital of a piccolo trumpet by former ‘Tonight Show’ musical director Doc Severinsen. The current version is played by Wynton Marsalis. I can hear it now, can you?
Whoever wrote the line “easy like Sunday morning” never had to dress three small children for Mass.
So enjoy this show. Hardly ever see it because I’m otherwise occupied when it’s on, and can’t justify a DVR just to record the 2 things a week I might want to go back and watch later.
The feature stories on Sunday Morning are so very well written and entertaining. I’ve always wondered what it looked like behind the scenes. Thanks so much, Bobby!
Kuralt remains my hero and his style is still embedded in my current work. If you haven’t read his book On The Road, it’s a TV must read.
And I may be wrong, but I believe the panels still used on the set were repurposed from the ‘CBS: On the Air” series that celebrated the network’s history back in 1978. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDj9nyGI3Eg
I’m a regular viewer. It seemed, on a recent Sunday, they used a virtual set. Now that I know they share space with Inside, it would have been fairly easy to try it out.
The ONLY show I watch on CBS.
This is one of the best shows on TV, especially for those who enjoy movies, TV, music and the arts in general.
I always take the time to watch ‘Sunday Morning’ . . . at NBC, when I’m done working on MY show, The Today Show!
I feel like its one of the last pure journalistic tv shows remaining. Great show!
Blowing the family horn, so to speak, Marsalis is either playing a trumpet made by, modified by or at least a mouthpiece made by my wife’s brother, David Monette. Check out his Web site. Either Wynton’s or David’s.
Going back further, Jodie and all, when Morning first premiered it was paired with a daily one hour news show hosted by Bob Scheiffer but the set was modifed during the week to have a more conventional news desk. No Sat show hence no Sat in the opening roll. The Kuralt/Saywer show started I think before or after they paired her with Bill Kurtis…memory a little fuzzy.
Happy 35th Anniversary CBS Sunday Mornings:) R.I.P Charles Karult:)
CBS Sunday Morning set:)1979-present:)