CBS News Sunday Morning

Background

CBS Sunday Morning (originally CBS News Sunday Morning) is a news-magazine created by CBS News, which debuted on January 28, 1979 with Charles Kuralt as the anchor. Sunday Morning is known for its iconic sun logo and its theme, which is the fanfare "Abblasen," composed by 18th century composer Gottfried Reiche.

1st Intro (January 28, 1979-1993)

Visuals: We see a light yellow sun rise 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 we see 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.

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.

Availability: Appeared on episodes of CBS Sunday Morning of the era.

2nd Intro (1993-2003)

Visuals: We see a light orange sun rise. 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.

Availability: Appeared on episodes of CBS Sunday Morning of the time.

===3rd Intro (2003-May 28 2023)

Visuals We see a yellow gold sun rise and as the sun approaches the center a rotating CBS eye surrounded by a ring rotating outwards consisting of the text "movies","theater","television","personalities","art","books","music",and "opinion" (in a frutiger typeface). As the ring of text rotates outward, the sun from the last logo forms with its rays rotating around the middle of the sun, then the CBS eye moves forward and fades out, and then the box from the last intro, this time with the text "ART","MOVIES","THEATER","DESIGN","MUSIC" and animated text for the stories featured in the episode scroll downwards as the camera begins moving towards the right eye of the sun then the text "SUNDAY MORNING" with the letters spaced apart flies in as the letters move back together. As the camera move through the eye the text "CHARLES OSGOOD" wipes in from the left below the text "SUNDAY MORNING"

Variants/Variations 2003-2008: The background and sun is yellow and the text "SUNDAY MORNING" is gold 2008-2014: The background is a dark honey color 2014-2015: The ring of text is absent 2015-2018: Same as before but the text "CHARLES OSGOOD" is replaced with the text "JANE PAULEY" 2018-2023: Same as before but shortened Eat,Drink And Be Merry: The ring of text is replaced with food related objects The Death Of Walter Cronkite: No full intro and just the text "SUNDAY MORNING" forming

Technique CGI

Audio 2003-2004: The same Doc Severinsen recording of "Abblasen" as before 2004-2023: A recording of "Abblasen" performed by Wynton Marsalis

Audio Variants The Death Of Walter Cronkite: The last few notes of the Doc Severinsen recording of "Abblasen" 2018-2023: Shortened version of the Wynton Marsalis recording of "Abblasen"

Legacy This intro and the Winton Marsalis recording of "Abblasen" have become synonymous with CBS Sunday Morning since it was first used in 2003.