The Damage Report
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CBS Boss Plan CRUMBLES As Tony Dokoupil’s Replacement Sees Major Ratings Boost
Posted
August 7, 2026
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19,189
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August 7, 2026
19,189
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4:56Now PlayingCBS News boss Bari Weiss' handpicked, MAGA-coded anchor, Tony Dokoupil, faces an awkward return as his fill-in replacement anchor, Matt Gutman, sees ratings grow to the network's best performance in 17 weeks. John Iadarola and Brett Erlich break it down on The Damage Report. Leave a comment with your thoughts below!
Read more here:
‘Awkward’Tony Dokoupil’s FillIn Delivers CBS Evening News’ Best Ratings in Four Months
"Tony Dokoupil’s two-week summer vacation has produced an “awkward result” for CBS News, with his temporary replacement posting the CBS Evening News’ strongest weekly audience in months, according to figures cited by Oliver Darcy.
As was revealed in the Thursday edition of Status News, with Darcy calling the matter “an unexpected and somewhat awkward result for CBS News,” Matt Gutman averaged 4.1 million viewers during his first week filling in for Dokoupil, marking the program’s best performance in 17 weeks and the first time the broadcast has topped the 4 million-viewer mark since late March.
As Darcy noted, CBS Evening News has struggled to consistently reach that audience level since editor-in-chief Bari Weiss oversaw a major overhaul of the broadcast earlier this year, despite executives once considering it the “minimum acceptable audience” for the program. While Dokoupil hit an even 4 million viewers during the week of June 22, Status reported that he had not exceeded that threshold since averaging 4.2 million viewers during the week of March 30."
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