Elisabeth Hasselbeck, a former co-host of ABC’s “The View” and “Fox & Friends,” will serve as a guest host next week on “CBS Mornings,” according two people familiar with the matter, part of what is expected to be a series of try-outs as CBS News works to overhaul a program that has fallen further behind its competitors in the ratings.
She is expected to appear Monday through Wednesday of next week, according to two people familiar with the matter. Hasselbeck will not appear during segments tied to hard news or politics, these people say, and will likely turn up later in the program during “Talk of the Table” segments and discussions of parenting, pop culture and entertainment. Other guest hosts are likely to appear over the course of the summer, these people say, including “Inside Edition” host Eva Pilgrim. Norah O’Donnell will appear on “CBS Mornings” throughout the program on Wednesday’s telecast.
CBS News declined to make executives available for comment. Hasselbeck’s coming guest appearances were previously reported by The Guardian on social media.
Hasselbeck might make for a different kind of host for the CBS News morning program, which in recent years has tried to carve out space for itself by avoiding some of the frillier elements of A.M. TV and playing up deeper features and longer conversations about the issues of the day. That format has been eroding for some time now, and the show’s future had been assigned recently to Tom Cibrowski, the president of CBS News and a former top producer at ABC News’ “Good Morning America,” which embraces more segments tied to lifestyle and pop culture.
