An Evening with Sunday Morning, a Night with CBS Sports

The stage is set for "An Evening with CBS Sunday Morning"
October 1, 2018, Town Hall, New York City

In 2014, Netflix reconstructed Friends' Central Perk coffeehouse in Manhattan's East Village.  The following year, Hulu recreated Seinfeld's Monk's Diner on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.  And this past spring, PBS brought Downton Abbey to life in the 21st Century, with an exhibition of props and memorabilia that has toured from Manhattan's 57th Street to its upcoming next stop in Florida's West Palm Beach (opens November 10.)

Jane Pauley interviews The Front Runner director
Jason Reitman (l) and star Hugh Jackman
Town Hall, NYC, October 1, 2018
Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS

Now CBS is the latest network to get in on the action -- and it has created a whole new division to do so.  With TV audiences becoming ever more fragmented, one of the best ways to bond with viewers -- and in some cases, start a new stream of revenue -- is via "interactive television," giving audiences a chance to experience aspects of their favorite shows live and in person.

On October 1, CBS Experiences (or CBSX) debuted its first presentation, a live version of its well-heeled newsmagazine CBS Sunday Morning at Manhattan's Town Hall.  "An Evening with CBS Sunday Morning" was hosted by some of the morning show's famous correspondents, and featured interviews with the likes of the director and star of the upcoming film The Front Runner, Jason Reitman and Hugh Jackman; the cast of Murphy Brown; subjects from favorite past stories such as Georgia widower Dan Peterson and Norah Wood, the little girl who asked to hug him in the supermarket; plus live performances by Late Show with Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste, David Yazbek of the Broadway show The Band's Visit, David Brown's The Harmony Project, and more.

The cast of Murphy Brown (l-r, Grant Shaud, Joe Regalbuto,
Faith Ford, Candice Bergen) with Lee Cowan
NYC's Town Hall
October 1, 2018
Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS

Next up, CBSX tackles an even bigger demographic, putting together a program for sports fans called "CBS Sports Friday Night Tailgate."  Featuring the networks' famed sportscasters Phil Simms, James Brown, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson and Boomer Esiason, plus gourmet "tailgate food" from Bareburger, Mighty Quinn's barbecue, Tao and more, the program will take place at Times Square's PlayStation Theater on Friday, November 9 at 7 PM Eastern. (Click for more info.)

Stay tuned for more announcements of unique CBSX experiences, which I hear are planned thru 2019 and beyond.

Musician David Krauss kicks off the evening
with a performance of the CBS Sunday Morning theme
"Ablassen," by Gottfried Rieche.
October 1, 2018, Town Hall, New York City
Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS

Correspondent Mo Rocca introduces his fellow CBS Sunday Morning Journalists
October 1, 2018
Town Hall, New York City
Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS

CBS Sunday Morning correspondents:
(l-r), Tracy Smith, Lee Cowan, Rita Braver,
Martha Teichner, producer Rand Morrison,
Jane Pauley and Mo Rocca
Town Hall, NYC, October 1, 2018
Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's Jon Batiste
performs at Town Hall, NYC,
October 1, 2018
Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS

A performance by The Harmony Project, led by David Brown
 From left: Candace Haynes, Nicole Jie, Sybil Scoby, Joshuah Campbell,
 Jamie Leonhart, Damaras Obi and Chanté Odom.
Town Hall, NYC, October 1, 2018
Photo by Michele Crowe/CBS

Charles Osgood, host of CBS Sunday Morning from 1994-2016,
waves to the crowd at NYC's Town Hall,
October 1, 2018.
Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS

RIP Mrs. Wolowitz

Carol Ann Susi, 1952-2014

I was so sad this afternoon to hear about the death at age 62 
of Carol Ann Susi, the actress who voiced the unseen character of Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg)'s harridan mom on The Big Bang Theory.  I've long been a fan of Carol Ann's, and was thrilled a few years back when I got the chance to interview her for a CBS Watch! magazine story about the secretaries of Murphy Brown.

With a long resume in both TV and film, Carol Ann was one of those character actresses with such perfect comic timing, you knew the moment you spotted her in something you'd be in for a laugh.  She was Michael J. Fox's secretary Jean in The Secret to My Succe$s, and a psychiatric patient in Death Becomes Her.  She made her TV debut with three episodes of Kolchak:  The Night Stalker in 1974, and never stopped working since, popping up in all my favorite comedies of the last few decades.  I still laugh out loud when I think back to her hilarious appearance as Maya's (Laura San Giacomo) crazy neighbor Mrs. Boukidis on a 1998 episode of Just Shoot Me.

I had the pleasure of running into Carol Ann quite a few times since my move to LA last fall, including just a few months ago, immediately following a live taping of Big Bang on the Warner Brothers lot.  Her death comes as a shock to all of us who loved her work, including her millions of Big Bang devotees around the world.

Jeff Says Tomato, Annabelle says Shut Up -- or is it the other way around?

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing actress Annabelle Gurwitch about her guest star spot back in 1988 as one of Murphy Brown's first secretaries. I had come to know Annabelle later on HBO's Not Necessarily the News, and then as one of the really fun hosts of TBS' Dinner and a Movie. Now, she's the host of Wa$ted on the Planet Green channel.

A few years back, Annabelle wrote a really funny book, Fired, and now has a second, a book about relationships, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up, written with her husband Jeff Kahn. In the following clip, the two have some fun stuff to say about relationships -- I hope they actually take this show on the road, because I'd love to see them argue it out in person.