As “Good Morning America” crept into a morale-crushing tie with the once-dominant “Today” show yesterday, CBS shook up its morning show, too.
CBS got rid of Erica Hill — the dimpled co-host who could not escape her role as third wheel opposite Gayle King and Charlie Rose on the newly revamped show.
Norah O’Donnell — an up-and-coming White House reporter who’d been substituting for Hill, who was on vacation this week — was named to replace her.
“We just felt [O’Donnell] was so perfect for the direction we’re going in,” CBS News boss Jeff Fager said in a prepared statement.
Third-place CBS completely remade its morning show last January, replacing all of the anchors except for Hill, getting rid of the cooking segments and musical acts and concentrating heavily on politics and overnight news.
The idea has yet to catch on with viewers — who have made the mornings into a genuine race between the longtime ratings champ “Today” and a revitalized “GMA.”
The latest ratings, which came out yesterday, show “GMA” in a flat tie with “Today” in the target audience — viewers 25 to 54 years old — for the first time in 17 years.
O’Donnell is expected to start after the elections.
Hill has been offered a choice among several new assignments, officials said, but has yet to decide.