On Thursday CBS News fired senior executive producer of “The Early Show,” Shelley Ross only six months after she was hired.
Ross’ stay at CBS was a controversial one, with rumors that almost 21 employees of the “Early Show” quitted during her work at the show.
Monday was her last day at work, but she didn’t work on “The Early Show.”
Rick Kaplan, the executive producer of “CBS Evening News With Katie Couric,” will be the one who will take over temporarily.
He will keep his old job too, but beginning with the 3:15 a.m. wake-up call this morning, most of his time will be dedicated to “The Early Show.”
CBS News/Sports president Sean McManus said in a statement Thursday: "Rick has built an exceptionally strong senior team there, and the broadcast will be in very capable hands until he returns full-time to the 'Evening News,' " Hollywood Reporter informs.
On Thursday afternoon McManus and Kaplan met with "The Early Show" staff in order to talk about the show’s future.
According to Kaplan, the show was important and due to its ratings
successes it was necessary to continue.
Kaplan said: "It's built up some great momentum. The show is looking better. Nobody wants the show to slow down or lose the energy that it's built up."
He added that he was new to it but had a good vibe after
meeting with the staff.
Ross was hired by CBS News in September after the leadership team of morning broadcasts Steve Friedman and senior executive producer Michael Bass was removed. They were the ones that took the show to higher levels in a time period dominated by NBC's "Today" (where both Bass and Friedman once worked) as well as ABC's "Good Morning America."
Even though the ratings were acknowledged by CBS, they
wanted another direction for the show thus choosing Ross for this.