Newscaster Bryant Gumbel (1948-) is intelligently beginning again.

In 1997, the bright and outspoken journalist left NBC's Today Show, tried prime time television on CBS, and now it's back to morning TV, launching The Early Show. (CBS is trying to get out of third place in the 7-to-9 a.m. EST time slot.)

One of the first African American broadcast journalists to excel nationally, Gumbel was born in New Orleans and grew up in Chicago.

"There's no one better at morning television in the world," said CBS news president Andrew Heyward about Gumbel who began at NBC in 1975 as as host of the NFL pregame show.

Former President George Bush called Gumbel "one of the best, fairest and toughest interviewers." In the 16 years he hosted Today Show, it was estimated that Gumbel interviewed 12,000 people and asked 160,000 questions.

Note: Gumbel stepped down from The Early Show in 2002. He signed a new multi-year, mulit-million dollar deal with HBO to continue anchoring Real Sports.

"I feel it's time for me to move on and do something else with my life," said Gumbel.

There are no failures, just new beginnings.