Reinventing the network morning show

The recent announcement that Diane Sawyer will take Charlie Gibson’s seat on ABC’s “World News Tonight” not only has far reaching implications for the dying art that is network morning news, but also is sending a shutter through the “prime time” world that is morning television.

There was a time where the naming of a second female main anchor of a network nightly newscast would have been unthinkable.  But the real news here is not that Sawyer is joining Couric as one of the big three, but that “Good Morning America” is left with no obvious choice to succeed or as The New York Times reports, replace the heart and soul that Sawyer has provided to the show.

Here is the great opportunity not only for ABC but for the future of news/infotainment on television.  Morning shows today are what evening network newscasts used to be for the “big three.”  They get the most viewers, create the most network brand equity with viewers and they are the shows that provide most viewers with the news of the day/news they can use.  They also are the BIG money makers for the networks.

They also are getting stale in their format and delivery.  As the Times piece points out, ABC now has the chance to “reinvent” the morning show.  I for one urge them to embrace the future and not the past.  They need to take a hard look at incorporating social media platforms as a way to include their viewers in ways even forward media thinkers like CNN and others are not doing.

It is time to engage their viewers in active conversation instead of just talking at them in the morning,  That is reinvention.  Anything else would be a disappointment.