Shawna Thomas is departing as executive producer of CBS Mornings, as the show has been expected to get an overhaul under the network’s new owners, Paramount Skydance.
A network spokesperson confirmed Thomas’ departure, which was first reported by Variety. Thomas has served as EP since 2021.
“For five years, I’ve tried to make this show something she and everybody on this team want to be a part of. Want to watch. Want to learn from,” Thomas wrote in a note to staffers. She wrote that she had been “thinking about this for a while and, frankly, I’m tired y’all.”
Jon Tower will run CBS Mornings on an interim basis after Thomas departs at the end of the month, wrote Tom Cibrowski, president and executive editor of CBS News.
Cibrowski wrote, “Morning television moves fast. It demands grace under pressure, sharp instincts, and the ability to pivot at a moment’s notice. Shawna does all of that with a calm confidence and a great sense of humor. Morning television is also a tight-knit family. Behind the scenes, Shawna’s leadership creates space for collaboration, creativity, and trust – and on screen, that translates into something viewers can feel.”
The news of Thomas’ departure comes a day after the announcement that Gayle King renewed her deal to remain as co-host and at the network. Executives also indicated that co-host Nate Burleson would remain, while the show’s traditional slot for a third co-host has been vacant since Tony Dokoupil departed to become anchor of CBS Evening News.
The show averaged 1.9 million viewers in the fourth quarter of last year, behind NBC’s Today with 2.9 million and ABC’s Good Morning America with 2.7 million, according to Nielsen.
During Thomas’ tenure, the show underwent a revamp, with a new title from CBS This Morning, while taking on some of the elements of the network’s long-running Sunday Morning. It has distinguished itself as a newsier rival to Today and Good Morning America, and Thomas came with a hard news background, having served as Washington bureau chief for Vice News and, before that, working for NBC News for more than a decade.
Thomas wrote that the CBS Mornings team “has made me more thoughtful, empathetic and expanded my personal definition of storytelling. I’ve had the privilege of helping to make 10 (now 12!) hours of television each week that goes out free to people everywhere. I’ve taken that responsibility of trying to inform, educate, entertain and make people care about the world around them very seriously, and I know the people here do, too.”
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