Just walk away, Rene
12/04/06 06:42 PM
By ED BARK
Rene Syler is exiting CBS' The Early Show after a four-year run and a public battle with breast cancer.
Syler, 43, anchored at CBS11 and previously Belo8 in D-FW before vaulting to a national stage in October 2002. Her last day on Early Show will be Dec. 22nd, the network announced Monday.
Syler said she plans to spend the early part of next year promoting her first book, Good Enough Mother.
"I very much look forward to meeting in person all the people I've woken up with for the last four years," she said.
In a later interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Syler said she will be undergoing a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy early next month. Her CBS bosses, who knew of her impending surgery, recently told her that Early Show would be "going in a different direction" that didn't include her.
"I was surprised," she said. "We mutually decided it was a good time to move on."
CBS News did not return emails on Monday, the day it announced Syler's departure. She told The Inquirer on Thursday that her impending surgery is "pretty radical. I've been thinking about it for a while. The difficult part is that I have two young kids. They can't be without their mommy. I don't want to be in a position where I'm fighting for my life."
Early Show long has been a distant third in the network early morning race, with news president Sean McManus promising to rejuvenate the program and address a yawning ratings gap between CBS and ABC's runnerup Good Morning America. Holdover anchors include Julie Chen, wife of CBS boss of bosses Leslie Moonves. One persistent rumor is that McManus is wooing CNN's Anderson Cooper to join CBS' breakfast club.
McManus praised Syler Monday as "an important and wonderfully spirited part" of Early Show. "Her enthusiasm and ability to communicate with and touch people have served her and the broadcast very well."
Syler anchored at CBS11 from 1997 to 2002, and before that spent five years at Belo8. She met her husband, Buff Parham, a former sales manager at Belo8, while they both were working at the ABC station.
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