Two weeks after the announced departure of Bryant Gumbel from CBS' morning
program, The Early Show, CBS said the show's executive producer, Steve
Friedman would also exit at the end of May.
Friedman produced Today for most of the 1980s and part of the
1990s has run The Early Show since its launch in November of 1999.
Another Today show alum, Michael Bass, will replace Friedman.
Bass was senior broadcast producer at Today from 1995 through 2000 and acting
executive producer from December 2000 through May 2001, when Jonathan Wald shifted
from top producer at NBC Nightly News to top producer at Today.
In a press release, CBS News president Andrew Heyward said Friedman told him
he was "strongly considering" leaving the show when the Gumbel announcement was
issued, although Friedman told reporters at the time that he had no such plans. "I'm
not going anywhere," he said at the time. "Unless you know something that I
don't know."
