“Sunday Morning” contributors’ tributes to Charles Osgood

David Edelstein, Bill Flanagan, Nancy Giles, David Pogue, Faith Salie and Ben Stein pay homage to our departing host:

       
Bill Flanagan

Elegance. Graciousness. Beautiful manners. Not the first three attributes we associate with TV news in the 21st century. Which is one of the many reasons we are grateful to Charles Osgood.

Charles, your long success is proof that the spotlight does not always follow the loudest voice. Your measured, compassionate delivery makes each of us lean forward to listen. You have the confidence of a man who knows exactly who he is; that always comes through loud and clear. You set the tone for “Sunday Morning,” and all of us look to you to see how it should be done: Assume the audience is intelligent; trust that the public is curious; credit the viewer with having an adult attention span.

When the news is bad, you are a comfort. When the information coming at us is confusing, you help make things clear. And maybe most important, you make us appreciate how much good news is out there. That’s another thing we don’t associate much with TV news -- but we sure associate it with Charles Osgood.

As the “Sunday Morning” music guy, I have to say how much I admire your musicality. You have a thousand songs at your fingertips. And when you play piano you always invite everyone in the room to join in. At the Osgood home, music is not something we sit and watch other people do; music is something we do together.

You brought that same generosity to “Sunday Morning.” You invited everyone to gather around and take part. It’s been one of the great honors of my life to be in your chorus from time to time.

In an age of “us against them,” you made us feel “we” were all in it together. What a gift that has been.

In the words of that old Weavers song, Charles, “We’ll see you in our dreams.”

     
Faith Salie

The bow tie, the piano, that voice. Charles Osgood: America’s avuncular appointment.

I’ll always remember hearing you say my name on national television for the first time, and you even pronounced it correctly, confirming me (and my father) as your forever fans.

Just as you’ve welcomed the “Sunday Morning” family around your piano as we’ve sung carols together all these many Christmases, so have you welcomed the American family with your wit and warmth.

You showed us how to be classy, kind and earnest in an age of urgent intolerance and irony.

On Sunday mornings, some people go to Mass, but they return home to you, bringing these stories to the masses.

Charlie, for 22 years you’ve been the sun at the center of this show. Thanks for shining on all of us in your orbit.

     
Nancy Giles

It starts with your voice: warm, crinkly, comforting, iconic. Your voice lulls one in, whether narrating a story, or singing Christmas carols, or reciting a little ditty. And I know a few things about voices; yours is one of the best in broadcasting. And to borrow from the “Saturday Night Live” character Linda Richman, your voice, Charles Osgood, is “like buttah.”

Hearing you refer to me as “our” Nancy Giles was mind-numbing. I was an “our!” Officially part of the “Sunday” family! You said so!

When I first met you in the hallway here at CBS, I was bubbling with excitement, and I babbled about being a longtime fan, and I said, “I’d love to come to a taping some Sunday morning.” You thought for a second, and said, “Why? I’m just a guy in a room.” OK, so technically, you were correct, and we had a good laugh. But come on, what a guy! And what a room!

A room where you shared a unique blend of intelligent and quirky stories about music, art, design, culture, people and more. You have been the generous host of a kind of televised Sunday brunch. That’s our Charles Osgood.

What a fabulous brunch for all of us here and for so many fans. Thank you Charles, for the open invitation. It’s been grand!

     
David Edelstein

Charlie, as a critic I’m sworn to honesty. Before joining this show, I watched you for many years; I noted the old-school bow-tie thing you had going on; I listened to your voice, which is resonant but forthright, with a faint quaver that evokes the homespun American cadences of Clarence Darrow and Atticus Finch.

And I thought, “Give me a break!”

I figured that off-camera you probably swanned around like a lot of TV egomaniacs I’ve met (no names).

But then I met you, and watched you interact with colleagues, and I stood beside you at the piano singing carols, and I was dismayed, gobsmacked, to realize that you are that most bizarre of creatures: a man who is as he appears, and as he sounds.

I come back to that voice, which gives “Sunday Morning” its music, its tempo, and its humanism. Maybe it’s less folksy than it first seems. It leaves room for bitter irony, for recognition of all the world’s horrors. But it also evokes a childlike sense of wonder and an unquenchable belief in the human capacity to grow and change.

Thanks for putting that worldview into my bloodstream, Charlie. Thanks from us all.

     
David Pogue

Dear Charlie:

You’ve made a lot of magic in your years at CBS
Such brilliant writing, great reporting -- even how you dress!
For me and many others, though, the best is every time
You sit at the piano and you share your thoughts in rhyme.

A shame you’re stepping down right now, ‘cause have you seen the news?
The world is feeling darker lately. We could use a muse!
Someone who’s a calming presence, makes things feel less bleak
Even if it’s only 90 minutes once a week.

I think that we could handle any news that comes along
If you sat at the keyboard and delivered it in song.
We’ll “see you on the radio,” I know; we’ll have that much.
But on TV, on Sundays, sir, we’ll miss the Osgood Touch.

        
Ben Stein

In a world of crisis, you were always calm. In a world of judgment and contempt, you were always generous. In the day-by-day storms of fear and anger, your world on Sundays was invariably reassuring, even when it was sad.

There are very few TV news icons whose stock in trade is reassurance that life will go on and that mankind will flourish. You are one of them -- maybe the only one.

You have been very good to me as a person for many years now letting me be on your show. For your presence on this Earth and on television, I say thank you and Halleleujah!