The cable news network debuts its new morning lineup on Jan. 2.
As CNN readies its new morning lineup next week, long-running series American Morning signed off for the last time on Friday.
Anchors Alina Cho and Deborah Feyerick, brought staff members to set for its final broadcast, TV Newser reports, thanking everyone for their efforts on the morning series, ending after 10 years on the cable news network due to weak ratings.
"These are the folks who get up in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping to bring you this show," said Feyerick, "and they do it when a lot of enthusiasm and love and energy."
Prior to the telecast, Feyerick tweeted, teasing the new changes to mornings at CNN: "Final American morning of 2011. It gets a facelift in 2012." Two hours later, she wrote of the final telecast: "#CNNAM back on the couch as we head into home stretch!"
American Morning premiered the day after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 with Paula Zahn, who now anchors a weekly crime newsmagazine On the Case for the Investigation Discovery channel. (THR reported that On the Case recently hired David Letterman's blackmailer Joe Halderman to serve as a producer on the series.) American Morning was originally set to debut five months later.
Anchor John Roberts left his post at the end of 2010 with Kiran Chetry departing at the end of July 2011.
CNN is looking to break through the morning show clutter dominated by the Today show, Good Morning America as well as Fox & Friends and Morning Joe with Ashleigh Banfield and Zoralda Sambolin's Early Start from 5-7 a.m. and Soledad O'Brien's Starting Point taking the 7-9 a.m. hours.
Banfield is a former ABC News co-anchor, while Sambolin is a former early morning anchor from Chicago.
