With the tense stridency of tonight’s first presidential debate still ringing in our ears, this seems like an ideal moment to stop and say thank you to one of the most gracious and thoughtful people ever to grace our television screens …. Charles Osgood, who for the last 23 years has been the host of CBS Sunday Morning. I can count on one hand the number of TV programs that Kathy and I DVR every week, without fail- and one of them is CBS Sunday Morning. For those of you who have never seen it, you have been missing out on one of the most distinctive, refreshing, and perpetually fascinating programs on broadcast television. It was created back in 1979, and one of the people who had a major role in shaping its unique voice and flavor was its first host, the legendary Charles Kuralt, who is probably most famous for his “On the Road” segments that were a beloved staple on the CBS Evening News. But I think Kuralt’s greatest contribution to our cultural life was in shaping CBS Sunday Morning into a TV magazine like none other. He must have known that there were plenty of us out there in America who would gravitate to a program that valued gentle whimsy, careful reflectiveness, and even silence. And if anything, those attributes are even more precious now than they were back when this program was created. I remember watching the show back in the Kuralt days, and the show and its host were as perfectly matched as were Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion. So his retirement in 1994 left a lot of us wondering who could possibly take over the program and make it their own while also preserving all that made it so unique.
Enter CBS veteran Charles Osgood, who was courageous enough to step into those formidable shoes and filled them so impressively. Kuralt was affable, respectful and intelligent- but also rather guarded, rather private, above the fray. And that was fine because the show was never about him. But Osgood, while maintaining the focus where it belonged, was also much more open-hearted than Kuralt. He happily shared with us his love of music and of poetry, and it was our pleasure to delight in his talent and creativity. Something else I have really loved about Osgood’s style of hosting is how it is poise and class personified- but also perfectly natural and authentic. In fact, what has helped me come to more fully appreciate his natural grace on camera is when he has been absent from time to time and various people have stepped in as substitute hosts. Most of them – and regular contributor Lee Cowan would be the worst offender – have been way too mannered, over-inflecting every phrase as though they’re talking to a room of third graders. Osgood spoke to us like we were adults- and as though he trusted that that the story he was introducing would be compelling. (And he trusted that to be true with good reason, of course.) In this way, he has very much hosted the program as its co-created Charles Kuralt hosted it for its first fourteen years – in a way that was soothing and relaxing in the best sense of the word. It’s something that I think his successor, Jane Pauley, is capable of emulating, and I hope she will.
Mr. Osgood’s final program, which aired this past Sunday, was filled with marvelous tributes to him – but I think one of my favorites came towards the end of the program when they replayed a few moments from the opening of several different programs where important and sad news had to be shared- such as Princess Diana’s death … or the Columbia disaster …. or the shootings in Paris. It was a great reminder of how beautifully he uses language – not by twisting it in fancy or manipulative ways but by making every single word count. (In this regard, he is a wordsmith of the calibre that one otherwise hears only on NPR.) That gift is terribly uncommon these days, and something to cherish and celebrate.
That was the ‘serious’ tribute that was my favorite. As for the ‘fun’ tributes, I think the best one was Mo Rocca’s celebration of Osgood’s impressive bow tie collection. You can probably guess why I liked it. (However, as Mr. Rocca waxed rhapsodically over Mr. Osgood’s enormous collection of colorful bow ties, I couldn’t help but wonder what he would make of the 480 neckties I have upstairs.)
Best wishes, Charles Osgood, and thank you for all you have contributed to our collective Sunday mornings over the last 22 years. It is a mark of your superb work that your final show included heartfelt tributes from the all three evening news anchors on CBS, NBC, ABC …. all three weekday morning shows on CBS, NBC, ABC …. and a host of other famous fans . You have earned all of this esteem the old fashioned way, by doing exemplary work, year after year after year, and doing it so graciously. In these troubled times, thank you for giving us hope – and for reminding us of the best that we can and must aspire to be.