Some New York news shows back, but many hosts work remotely

NEW YORK – The couch is still in storage, but the morning team on “Fox & Friends” returned for the first time Monday to the midtown Manhattan studio vacated in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A few blocks west, there was a similar welcome for two-thirds of the “CBS This Morning” hosts, who had taken brief trips to Washington and a New York theater before settling in at home after being chased out on March 18. Although Gayle King and Anthony Mason sat at the same desk on Monday, colleague Tony Dokoupil remained in Brooklyn, where he shares a home studio with his wife, MSNBC’s Katy Tur.

Monday represented a key phase in New York City’s reopening, with many offices bringing employees back for the first time. Despite the CBS and Fox moves, most news employees continue to work remotely, and the television programs that originate here have a patchwork of approaches that have quickly become familiar.

For instance, ABC’s “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir has remained in his upper West Side studio, since he has no guests to interact with on-set. NBC “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt works from home, while “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell works out of the network’s Washington bureau.

CNN’s evening lineup, including Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon, do their shows from “flash studios” in New York’s Hudson Yards office complex, where they are the only people in the room as they work. Chris Cuomo is similarly back after several weeks confined to his basement with COVID-19.

Fox News’ prime-time anchors – Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham – work out of home studios. Martha MacCallum returned to Fox’s offices last week, while daytime hosts Bill Hemmer and Ed Henry never left.

Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade of “Fox & Friends” were in the studio Monday, but were stationed behind different desks.