Elisabeth Hasselbeck to Guest Host CBS Mornings for Three Days
elisabeth hasselbeck is set to guest host CBS Mornings from Monday through Wednesday next week, a three-day run that puts her in one of the network’s most scrutinized morning seats. The move comes as CBS News keeps reshaping the program after losing further ground in the ratings.
Hasselbeck will not appear in hard-news or politics segments. Her role is instead centered later in the broadcast, where CBS Mornings leans into Talk of the Table, parenting, pop culture and entertainment — the lighter material that gives guest hosts room to show range without carrying the entire news load.
Gayle King and Nate Burleson
Gayle King and Nate Burleson have been carrying the show since Tony Dokoupil was named anchor of CBS Evening News earlier this year. That shift left CBS Mornings relying more heavily on its remaining anchors while the network searches for a steadier morning formula.
For viewers, Hasselbeck’s appearance is not a full replacement but a test drive. CBS News is using guest hosts as part of an overhaul, and the network has been casting a wider net for talent over the summer.
June 5 Ratings Gap
About 1.69 million viewers watched CBS Mornings over the five days ended June 5, compared with nearly 2.98 million for Today and 2.7 million for GMA. Among viewers aged 25 to 54, CBS Mornings drew 285,000, while Today reached 640,000 and GMA had 470,000.
Those numbers explain why a former View and Fox & Friends co-host is getting a look. Hasselbeck first came to prominence as a Survivor contestant, and she has no formal journalism background, which makes her presence more of a format test than a conventional anchor hire.
Norah O'Donnell on Wednesday
Norah O'Donnell will appear throughout the Wednesday telecast, while Vladimir Duthiers and Adrianna Diaz are also set to co-host next week. Eva Pilgrim is among the other guest hosts likely to appear over the summer, a sign that CBS News is still shopping for combinations that can pull more viewers into a morning hour that has fallen behind.
That gives Hasselbeck a narrow assignment and a useful one: if CBS Mornings keeps her out of hard news and politics while letting her work the table segments, the network gets a low-risk way to see whether her name value translates into daylight television. The next question is not whether she can replace the anchors — it is whether CBS News finds a guest-host mix that stops the slide.
