Rene Syler Is (Almost) Ready for Her Close-Up

D Magazine, Jan 01, 2003 by Pierce, Ellise

It was, for a working mom in the broadcast business, about as good as it gets. According to Steve Pickett, a reporter at Channel 11, "You may find somebody that doesn't like her, but I don't know any. She doesn't have the ego that some people have in this business."

SYLER SAYS THAT SHE WASN'T LOOKING for a job, but that didn't stop her agent.

"One morning," she recalls, "after spending a couple of hours in the dental chair, I get a call from my agent, who said that he sent an e-mail to Andrew Heyward, CBS news president, who was looking for a new anchor for the CBS Morning show. I said, 'No' I just bought a house!' He said, 'Rene, just follow this through to the logical conclusion.' So he sent a tape over. It was a tape of a cooking show, and I don't cook' It was like mirth and mayhem! I had a fire extinguisher! It was one of these crazy sort of tapes. It was not a news tape. They said, 'Wow, I'd like to see her anchor.' So they watched the 6 p.m. news on satellite that night."

The next week, CBS flew Syler to New York for an interview. In a hot, stuffy room, she met with five executives who wanted to know what she watched on television. "Cartoon Network," she told them. "And Nick Jr., because it's a Viacom product. [Viacom owns CBS.] I told them stories about my children. My son, who's 4, is on a soccer team and will not kick the ball! I'm like, 'Would you please kick the ball?"

"I said, 'What you see is what you get with me. I'm not particularly glamorous or graceful. I'm a geek. I'm not a girly girl. I'm a former jock. I'm loud and obnoxious. So if you're looking for someone who is quiet and beautiful, that's not me.'

"Besides," she says, "I had a job. I had a good job. It wasn't like if I hadn't gotten the job, it would be the end of the world." She didn't hear anything for a week. Then another week passed.

Then, suddenly, she was summoned to meet with Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS. "I did the noon news that day, ran out of there, and went to Ann Taylor," she says. "I bought this black suit with a red power blouse and went to the airport."

Syler met with Moonves in New York the next morning. "He said, 'Are you ready for this?' At first, I was like, 'No, no, no.' Then I realized this would be a lot of fun. The whole idea of divorcing myself from the teleprompter and not being so straight news would light me on fire! We talked about morning TV and what the mission is here-that the morningshow wars are serious, and CBS wants to be a player."

Less than a week later, with a three-year contract in hand, Syler was back in New York, smiling for pictures with people she'd never met. Then, it was back to Dallas. And later that same week, back to New York for a week of rehearsals. It would be like this for months to come. Five days in New York and two at home, in Dallas. Although she was given a travel budget, to save money, she would fly coach. Her husband of nine years and two children would stay behind. For the first eight months, Syler will live in a 784-square-foot, $3,700-permonth furnished apartment.