CBS Mornings gets boost from Gayle King space ride but ratings quickly drop back to Earth

CBS should send Gayle King into space more often.The “CBS Mornings” anchor’s 11-minute ride into orbit on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — with an all-female crew that included pop star Katy Perry and the Amazon founder’s fiancée Lauren Sanchez — earned the perennially last-place show a rare first-place finish.However, the ratings boost was nearly as short-lived as King’s space jam, with the show quickly plummeting back to its lowly depths.The widely-panned spectacle, televised live last Monday, drew roughly 3.9 million total viewers, rocketing past ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today,” which reeled in 2.7 million and 2.5 million viewers, respectively, according to the latest ratings from Nielsen.It was the show’s best performance in total viewers since March 8, 2021, when King bestie Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attracted 4.82 million viewers.But despite last Monday’s strong performance, “CBS Mornings” still finished third in total viewers for the week, Nielsen said.The show co-hosted by King, Nate Burleson and Tony Dokoupil averaged 2.45 million viewers for the week, trailing “GMA” (2.7 million) and “Today” (2.5 million).The star-studded team of women — that also included civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, ex-NASA engineer Aisha Bowe, and film producer Kerianne Flynn — became the first all-women crew to visit space since Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova took a solo flight in 1963Nonetheless, celebrities including Olivia Munn and Joe Rogan called out the ratings stunt.“I know this is probably obnoxious,” Munn said on “Today With Jenna & Friends” on April 3, “but like, it’s so much money to go to space, and there’s a lot of people who can’t even afford eggs.”“I think it’s a bit gluttonous,” the “Your Friends and Neighbors” star added at the time.

“Space exploration was to further our knowledge and to help mankind.”Perry in ...