TCA: ‘CBS This Morning’ Lines Up Sean Penn, Obamas

Complete Coverage: TCA Winter Press Tour

Charlie Rose, cohost on CBS This Morning, met with Sean Penn Jan. 11 and will interview the actor/activist/journalist for the news program. Not to be outdone in terms of lining up newsmakers, fellow cohost Gayle King will sit with President Obama and his wife Michelle on Super Bowl Sunday.

King described the sitdown as “[sharing] what it’s like at the Barack and Michelle Obama household on a big game day.”

Rose called Penn, who got a surprising exclusive with the Mexican fugitive known as El Chapo, an old friend that he’s interviewed for a couple decades. “I have a thousand questions for Sean and all the other people involved in this,” said Rose. “It’s a remarkable story.”

Rose did not offer a time frame, only to say he hopes and anticipates it happens soon.

Both interviews will run across CBS’ various platforms.

CBS News execs played up CBS This Morning’s hard news chops as it competes with Good Morning America and Today. “We don’t produce a show to try to fit that [morning show] genre,” said Chris Licht, VP of programming at CBS News and exec producer of CBS This Morning.

He added, “You can’t lump us in with a lot of what’s out there in the morning.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.