This week on "Sunday Morning" (January 26)
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. "Sunday Morning" also streams on the CBS News app beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.)
Hosted by Jane Pauley.
WATCH THE FULL JANUARY 26 BROADCAST!
COVER STORY: Trump's first week: Congress, courts consider their "checks and balances" | Watch Video
In his first week back in office, President Trump has wasted no time shattering norms – from a blizzard of transformative executive orders, to pardoning January 6 defendants and threatening the territories of other nations. CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa and presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky discuss the consequential events the world is now witnessing, and how they are testing America's system of checks and balances.
For more info:
- "Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic" by Lindsay M. Chervinsky (Oxford University Press), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- lindsaychervinsky.com
ALMANAC: January 26 (Video)
"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.
FASHION: The humility of designer Paul Smith: "It's just fashion" (Video)
Sir Paul Smith is one of Britain's most successful independent designers, with 130 stores in more than 60 countries. He talks with correspondent Seth Doane about his unexpected career; his creative process; and keeping things fun after more than 50 years in the business.
For more info:
U.S.: A tour of the Bronx (Video)
Comedian and actress Susie Essman was a kid from the Bronx, and maintains a devotion to this monumental, magical and, at times, maligned slice of the Big Apple. She takes "Sunday Morning" viewers on a tour, joined by such Bronx luminaries as writer and humorist Ian Frazier, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, actor and playwright Chazz Palminteri, rapper and entrepreneur Fat Joe, and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson.
READ AN EXCERPT: "Paradise Bronx" by Ian Frazier
For more info:
- Follow Susie Essman on Instagram
- "Paradise Bronx: The Life and Times of New York's Greatest Borough" by Ian Frazier (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- Ian Frazier, The New Yorker
- neildegrassetyson.com
- chazzpalminteri.net
- Follow Fat Joe on Instagram
- Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson
BROADWAY: Idina Menzel returns to Broadway in "Redwood" | Watch Video
In her new musical, "Redwood," the Tony Award-winning superstar plays a woman seeking a refuge, and a purpose, by escaping into a Redwood forest. Correspondent Tracy Smith talks with Menzel about the show, now at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre (where Menzel debuted in "Rent" 30 years ago), and about such career highlights as "Wicked" and "Frozen."
EXTENDED INTERVIEW: Idina Menzel (Video)
In this web exclusive, Idina Menzel, the Tony Award-winning star of "Wicked," "Rent," "If/Then," and the Disney animated film "Frozen," talks with correspondent Tracy Smith about the inspiration of her new Broadway musical "Redwood"; and about the ebb-and-flow of her career following her debut in the groundbreaking 1996 musical "Rent."
To listen to Idina Menzel perform "Great Escape," from the musical "Redwood," click on the video player below:
For more info:
- The musical "Redwood," at the Nederlander Theatre, New York City | Ticket info
- idinamenzel.com
- Bandaloop Studios, Oakland
PASSAGE: In memoriam (Video)
"Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week, including Garth Hudson, the Band's virtuoso keyboardist and all-around musician.
HISTORY: How a president's death helped kill Washington's "spoils system" | Watch Video
In the 1800s, the main job requirement for most federal employees was loyalty to the newly-elected president, who would fill the government bureaucracy with his supporters. But after a rejected office-seeker shot President James Garfield, reformers won long-sought-after changes: workers hired for their expertise, not their fealty. Correspondent Mo Rocca talks with journalist and historian Scott Greenberger about how a meritocracy finally came to the federal government, and finds out what Mark Twain had to do with it.
For more info:
- "The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur" by Scott Greenberger (Da Capo Press), in Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- Scott Greenberger, executive editor, Stateline
- Mark Twain House & Museum, Hartford, Conn.
- Jason Scappaticci, "Bow Tie Historian"
HARTMAN: A Buffalo Bill's big brother (Video)
Last month, Buffalo Bills rookie running back sensation Ray Davis paid tribute to a man who was like a brother to him, since the day in 2007 that 8-year-old Ray met Patrick Dowley through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in San Francisco. Steve Hartman reports.
MOVIES: The spirit of Sundance | Watch Video
This month, in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, the Sundance Film Festival is once again providing a showcase for independent filmmakers and documentarians from around the world. But that isn't all that Sundance does. Correspondent Lee Cowan talked with actor Robert Redford, founder of the non-profit Sundance Institute, about the history of the festival, and of the filmmakers' labs that help up-and-coming cinematic storytellers hone their craft. Cowan also talks with actors Glenn Close and Ed Harris; the Institute's founding senior director, Michelle Satter; and Sean Wang, director of last year's breakout festival hit, the coming-of-age story "Didi."
CURTAIN-RAISER: Sundance 2025 film lineup features Jennifer Lopez, John Malkovich, Lily Gladstone and more
For more info:
- The Sundance Film Festival runs through February 2 in-person at Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah; select films and events will also be available to stream online January 29-Feb. 2.
- Sundance Institute
- Sundance: Supporting Our Los Angeles Community Impacted by the Fires
MOVIES: Pete Davidson and Dav Pilkey on "Dog Man" | Watch Video
The playful anarchy of author and illustrator Dav Pilkey's bestselling "Dog Man" series is now on screen in a new animated film. Correspondent Rita Braver talks with Pilkey about the genesis of his hero, a cop who is part-man, part-police dog; and with comedian Pete Davidson, who voices Dog Man's arch-nemesis, Petey the Cat.
To watch a trailer for "Dog Man," click on the video player below:
For more info:
- The movie "Dog Man" opens in theaters January 31
- pilkey.com
- Thanks to Boys Prep Bronx Elementary School
- "Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical"
U.S.: Rebuilding Paradise (Video)
The recent wildfires in Los Angeles County destroyed thousands of homes and businesses. But residents of Paradise, Calif., who lost their homes to the devastating Camp Fire in 2018, did not give up. Correspondent Ben Tracy looks at how the community is being reborn, using building materials that are designed not to burn. (An earlier version of this story aired May 29, 2022.)
For more info:
- Q-Cabin kits from Design Horizons
- Paradise Lutheran Church, Paradise, Calif.
NATURE: Flamingos in the Caribbean (Extended Video)
We leave you this Sunday among flamingos on the Caribbean island of Bonaire. Videographer: Mauricio Handler.
WEB EXCLUSIVES:
THE BOOK REPORT: Washington Post critic Ron Charles (January 26) | Watch Video
The "Sunday Morning" book reviewer offers his suggestions for the new year, including new novels by Adam Ross and Alafair Burke.
BOOK EXCERPT: "Playworld" by Adam Ross
The acclaimed author of "Mr. Peanut" returns with a novel dipped in nostalgia and flecked with love and sorrow, about a child actor coming of age as the object of attraction for an older woman.
BOOK EXCERPT: "The Note" by Alafair Burke
In this new thriller by the New York Times bestselling author of "The Wife," a prank played by three women on vacation in the Hamptons causes them to get caught up in a police investigation over a missing person.
BOOK EXCERPT: "Tartufo" by Kira Jane Buxton
In her new novel, the author of "Hollow Kingdom" and "Feral Creatures" captures the comedy of truffle-mania in a tiny Tuscan village, upon the discovery of the world's largest truffle.
FROM THE ARCHIVES: The birth of the movies (YouTube Video)
Watch these classic "Sunday Morning" reports exploring the birth of motion pictures, the greats of early Hollywood, and the continuing attraction of silent movies for filmmakers and audiences, including: The Lumiere Brothers, who revolutionized moving pictures; Charlie Chaplin, the first international superstar; The life and career of Buster Keaton; A newfound fascination for silent film star Mary Pickford; The making of "Wings," the first film to win a best picture Oscar; A 2005 Turner Classic Movies contest that asked young composers to write a score for a silent Greta Garbo film, "The Temptress"; A look back at comedian Harold Lloyd; Conductor Gillian Anderson on leading orchestra scores for silent films, including "Nosferatu"; The story of Laurence Austin, who operated an L.A. theater devoted to the silent era, until his murder in 1997; and Hollywood's love affair with a new silent movie, "The Artist."
FROM THE ARCHIVES: David Lynch on Transcendental Meditation (YouTube Video)
Director David Lynch, renowned for such visionary and surreal works as "Blue Velvet," "Twin Peaks" and "Mulholland Drive," died on January 16, 2025, at age 78. A longtime practitioner of Transcendental Meditation (or TM), and founder of the David Lynch Foundation for Consciousness-Based Education and World Peace, he spoke in 2016 with "Sunday Morning" correspondent Mo Rocca about the effects of TM. Rocca also visited a Los Angeles school, where Lynch guided students on the benefits of meditation. [From a report that originally aired January 3, 2016.]
The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.
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