‘CBS Evening News’ marks one year with Norah O’Donnell as anchor

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

July 15, 2020, marks one year since Norah O’Donnell took over the “CBS Evening News” and, while the show’s look and locale have changed, one thing remains the same — it still trails in third place.

O’Donnell debuted as anchor July 15, 2019, amid the celebration of the 50th anniversary of NASA’s moon landing, from the network’s New York studio along with new graphics and theme music.

O’Donnell would continue to anchor from New York until Dec. 2, 2019, when the show was relocated, as previously announced, to the network’s Washington, D.C. bureau.

Moving to Washington helped accommodate O’Donnell, whose family lives in the city, and the network also touted it as a way to better cover politics and government.

Dec. 2’s show drew O’Donnell’s highest ratings to date since taking over, though that still put the newscast solidly in last place behind “ABC World News Tonight” and “NBC Nightly News.”

Ratings stabilized a bit after the move but then saw an uptick, along with the competition’s, during the coronavirus pandemic, but the show still trails ABC and NBC.

For example, April 2020 saw “World News” grow past the 10 million mark, while NBC was hovering between 9 and 10 million, all while “Evening” lagged in the mid-6 million range.

O’Donnell took over after CBS announced May 6, 2020, it would move Jeff Glor off the broadcast  2019. His last day was May 10, 2019.