As the number of sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations continues to grow in the entertainment industry, so does the number of entertainers getting ousted from their main gigs. Most recently, longtime journalist and talk show host Charlie Rose was fired from CBS, PBS and Bloomberg after multiple women went public with various allegations of sexual misconduct. And in an attempt to fill his spot on the CBS This Morning news desk, it's being reported that CBS is going hard on trying to get Oprah Winfrey to fill the seat.
At the time of this writing, nothing has been set in stone on that front, but PageSix is reporting that the CBS This Morning team is "begging" Oprah Winfrey to fill in the now-vacant seat that Charlie Rose sat in since 2012. While I'm sure everyone would love it if she would show up and stick around the long run, their requests aren't for Winfrey commit to a full-time position on CBS This Morning. No, they're apparently interested in anything Winfrey can offer, be it showing up for one episode of all of the remaining 2017 episodes. Assuming this report has validity, the ball is likely in Oprah's court regarding what happens next.
It's said that the thought process behind landing Oprah Winfrey, for however long it would happen, is to bring in someone famous enough to dissuade audiences from immediately thinking about their presence just being a substitution for an absent Charlie Rose. Winfrey definitely has the popularity to do such a thing, and she's also got close ties to CBS This Morning in that she's best friends with host Gayle King, who actually referenced Winfrey on-air when reacting to the accusations against Rose. As well, 60 Minutes tapped Winfrey as a special contributor, which she got busy with in September. The morning show isn't the same process at all, of course, but having fronted her own talk show for as long as she did, Winfrey could likely handle any hosting position imaginable.
According to the initial report, Oprah Winfrey's rep said that there had been no official requests for her to join CBS This Morning, while CBS and Gayle King declined to comment on the matter. Other reports have stated other CBS News anchors would be brought in for This Morning in a rotating capacity, but the network isn't overflowing with popular news personalities. And that multi-journalist approach almost definitely wouldn't make people forget about Charlie Rose's scandal, since the conversation would probably be like, "So who's Rose's replacement going to be today?"
If audiences are lucky, that answer may one day be Oprah Winfrey, but we'll have to wait and see what happens. In the meantime, catch Oprah Winfrey in the upcoming feature A Wrinkle in Time and tune into CBS This Morning weekday mornings at 8:00 a.m. ET. Then head to our fall TV premiere schedule and our 2018 midseason premiere schedule to see everything coming to the small screen in the near future, hopefully without any heinous controversies involved.
