CBS News Sunday Morning

Background

CBS News Sunday Morning (frequently shortened to Sunday Morning) is a news-magazine created by CBS News, which debuted on January 28, 1979 with Charles Kuralt as the anchor; he remained as anchor until April 3, 1994, with Charles Osgood becoming anchor on April 10, 1994. Osgood remained as anchor until September 25, 2016, with Jane Pauley becoming anchor two weeks later. Sunday Morning is known for its iconic sun logo and its theme, which is the fanfare "Abblasen," composed by 18th century composer Gottfried Reiche.

Contents

1st Intro (January 28, 1979-1993)	2nd Intro (1993-2003)	3rd Intro (2003-May 14, 2023)	4th Intro (May 21, 2023-)

1st Intro (January 28, 1979-1993)

Visuals: A light yellow sun rises on a black background. When the sun reaches the middle, it zooms backwards and then an orange CBS eye logo zooms forward with a trail following it. Then, the days "SUNDAY", "MONDAY", "TUESDAY", "WEDNESDAY", "THURSDAY" and "FRIDAY" (in a blocky font) scroll in from top to bottom. The days move forward towards the viewer. Then a orange trail is seen and "SUNDAY" follows the orange trail backwards. When it reaches the end of the trail, there's a flash that reveals the text "CBS News" on the top of "SUNDAY" and the word "MORNING" below "SUNDAY". The background fades to the set afterward, and the text fades out a few seconds later.

Variants: Starting in 1986, the day "SATURDAY" is added to the intro, the CBS eye is red and the sun is orange. Also, "SUNDAY", "MONDAY", ""TUESDAY", "WEDNESDAY", "THURSDAY" and "FRIDAY" are in yellow and "SATURDAY" is in purple when the days scroll and when the days move forward towards the viewer.

Technique: Scanimate.

Audio: Gottfried Reiche's "Abblasen" performed by Don Smithers on a baroque trumpet.

2nd Intro (1993-2003)

Visuals: A light orange sun rises. Before the sun reaches the center, a yellow CBS eye flies forward from the sun and turns white as it approaches the viewer. As the eye is moving, the background begins to zoom out to reveal a sun. As the background finishes zooming out, a box made up of the text "DANCE", "LIFESTYLES", "MUSIC", "MEDIA", "NATURE", "MOVIES", "EDUCATION", "WEATHER", "ART", "SPORTS" and "POLITICS", all in different fonts, move downward together as a bar made of multiple interlocking layers of the text "MONDAY", "TUESDAY", "WEDNESDAY", "THURSDAY", "FRIDAY", "SATURDAY" and "SUNDAY" move from the right in the background. Then, "MONDAY", "TUESDAY", "WEDNESDAY", "THURSDAY", "FRIDAY", "SATURDAY" and "SUNDAY" move forward one at a time from the first column of the bar in the background. A silver 3D CBS eye moves backwards and rotates while the right eye of the sun in the background starts glowing. "SUNDAY" flies in from the top and moves backwards, and "MORNING" does the same from the bottom. As the CBS eye approaches its final stop, the text "CBS NEWS" (in an outlined form) fades in. After "SUNDAY" and "MORNING" come to a rest, the right eye of the sun stops glowing. As the camera moves in on the right eye, the CBS eye and "CBS NEWS SUNDAY MORNING" turn white. As the camera begins to go into the right eye, the black background in the eye fades away to reveal the set.

Technique: CGI.

Audio:

1993-1998: The same recording of "Abblasen" from before.
1998-2003: A clearer recording of "Abblasen" performed by Doc Severinsen on a piccolo trumpet.

3rd Intro (2003-May 14, 2023)

Visuals A golden-yellow sun rises. As the sun approaches the center, a rotating CBS eye appears, surrounded by a ring rotating outwards consisting of the words "movies", "theater", "television", "personalities", "art", "books", "music", and "opinion" (in a Frutiger typeface). As the ring of text continues to rotate, the sun from the last intro forms with its rays rotating around the middle of the sun. The CBS eye moves forward and fades out, and then the box from the last intro, this time with "ART", "MOVIES", "THEATER", "DESIGN", "MUSIC" and animated words representing the stories featured in the episode scroll downwards as the camera begins moving towards the right eye of the sun. "S U N D A Y M O R N I N G", with the letters spaced apart, flies in as the letters move back together. As the camera move through the eye, "Charles Osgood" wipes in from the left below "SUNDAY MORNING". A cloud with the set inside appears and zooms in, eventually covering the entire screen.

Variants/Variations

2003-2008: The background and sun are yellow and "S U N D A Y M O R N I N G" is gold.
2008-2014: The background is a dark honey color.
May 17, 2009-May 14, 2023: The intro is in HD.
2014-September 25, 2016: The ring of text is absent.
October 9, 2016-2018: Starting on October 9, 2016, the name "Charles Osgood" is replaced with "Jane Pauley".
2018-May 14, 2023: A shortened version of the Jane Pauley variant.
"Eat, Drink and Be Merry": The ring of text is replaced with food related objects.
"The Death of Walter Cronkite": The only element forming is "S U N D A Y M O R N I N G".
January 28, 2024: "Remembering Charlie": The sun rising and the CBS eye rotating, with the text "SUNDAY MORNING" forming without the camera zooming into the eye.

Technique CGI.

Audio:

2003-2004: The 1998 recording of "Abblasen".
2004-May 14, 2023: A new recording of "Abblasen" performed by Wynton Marsalis.

Audio Variants:

"The Death of Walter Cronkite": The last few notes of the 1998 recording of "Abblasen" is heard.
2018-May 14, 2023: A shortened version of the 2004 recording of "Abblasen" is used.
January 28, 2024: "Remembering Charlie": The last few notes of the 2004 recording of "Abblasen".

4th Intro (May 21, 2023-)

Visuals: The sun rises on a gold-brown-black gradient background. Before it reaches the center, a silver outline of a oval fades in and flies while it flips upright, while a silver circle outline flies in from the left and a smaller silver circle outline flips in and becomes upright. The outlines meet in the center and form a silver outline of the CBS eye. The eye zooms in toward the camera until it's offscreen, and the sun slides to the left while various images related to topics in that week's episode fade in, with each of the images having their own animations. The images fade out, and a small white CBS eye fades in and zooms out. The CBS eye slides to the left as "CBS NEWS" fades in letter-by-letter. Below, "SUNDAY MORNING" fade in letter-by-letter as well. Two suns fade in over the background while this is happening. The CBS eye stops next to "CBS NEWS" and "WITH JANE PAULEY", with two lines at either side, fades in. The text zooms in slowly after it's formed. The sun's rays spin throughout the sequence. After a few seconds, the background fades to the set, the text slides to the right and fades out, and the sun zooms into the rectangular monitor on the set as its rays stop spinning.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The 2004 recording of "Abblasen".