‘CNN Morning’ comes up Lemon

“CNN This Morning,” with (from left) Poppy Harlow, Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins, is off to a poor start, far behind its cable rivals.

CNN’s flashy new morning show co-hosted by Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins bombed in its debut episode Tuesday.

Despite heavy promotion from the network, the first show of “CNN This Morning” drew a mere 387,000 viewers and averaged 71,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen ratings.

By way of comparison, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” amassed 793,000 viewers head to head from 6 to 9 a.m. EDT. Meanwhile, Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” came out on top, averaging nearly 1.5 million viewers.

No show across CNN, MSNBC and Fox News ranked lower than Lemon’s program on Tuesday.

“CNN This Morning” was pitched as the leftleaning network’s reentry into the competitive morning show landscape and was heralded by Lemon as a “promotion” amid reports that he was being demoted. The anchor had been moved from his now-canceled 10 p.m. prime-time show to share the spotlight with two other hosts.

Despite big promises from new CNN boss Chris Licht, who is known for his prowess in revamping morning programming, “CNN This Morning” even failed to match “New Day,” the show it replaced. Cohosted by John Berman and Brianna Keilar, “New Day” averaged 404,000 viewers in October.

When asked about the poor debut, a CNN spokesman said: “There’s not a morning show on television today that was a ratings success on Day 1. Reporting on ratings failures or successes of an entirely new program after a single day is absurd and cheap.”

Licht, a seasoned TV producer who helped launch MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and the reboot of “CBS This Morning,” was brought in to shake up CNN’s programming.

Aside from moving Lemon to the morning, Licht gave Jake Tapper the network’s coveted 9 p.m. slot, formerly occupied by Chris Cuomo.

But earlier this week, CNN announced Tapper would move back to his 4 p.m. time slot amid tanking ratings.