Deborah Norville brought the same broad smile and positive outlook to the table of “CBS This Morning” that has characterized her decades in broadcast journalism. Millions of viewers can never imagine the time when Deborah Norville was not at the desk of the successful syndicated news broadcast “Inside Edition.”

Most markets air the news program that mixes current and gritty features, such as life in a women's prison, or playful ones on kids, parents, families, pets, and lighthearted, trending social media snippets. This morning, March 4, Deborah Norville joined in after the “Talk of the Table” segment on “CBS This Morning.

In 1991, it was the Norville herself who became the talk across network morning news, when she never returned to “Today” following maternity leave. As the veteran news journalist, author, and crocheting expert described “I was left for dead by the side of the road,” according to one Chicago Tribune story.

Deborah Norville hadn't done anything wrong-- she simply replaced Jane Pauley, and during her year and a half on the original morning show, she even won an Emmy. Public opinion, however, tried to paint Norville as “a younger and blonder” version of Pauley, as Deborah described in an essay. She wanted to answer the critiques and be publicly out front, but the “experts” at the network insisted she stay quiet, and no one was in her corner.

Her “Today” stint ran for only a year and a half, despite the quality of her work. Jane Pauley is part of the CBS team now, hosting “Sunday Morning.”

When God allows one door to be closed, however, he raises a window. This week marks 25 years that Deborah Norville has been at the anchor desk of “Inside Edition,” although she certainly hasn't spent her time sitting in a chair.

The newswoman has been in the air, in the mud after natural disasters, and even doing news from her hospital bed, without missing a beat. For Deborah Norville, gratitude doesn't just reflect her attitude in her career, but even more, thankfulness describes how she embraces life.

Deborah Norville knows it takes more than numbers to succeed in television

"CBS This Morning” co-anchor, Gayle King, casually asked, “The ratings are good…?” referring to “Inside Edition” after more than two decades.

“The ratings are good, we're growing our lead-in, we’re number one (in syndicated news format shows) and the number five show in syndication,” Norville confirmed, especially noting how “pleased for the ‘Inside Edition’ team” she feels, considering the longevity. Deborah Norville began as a newsreader at “Today” and rose to become the first solo female news anchor of a newscast. She knows more personally than most how TV Shows can come and go and take entire careers with them. She credits the audience for supporting “the kind of stories we do,” and something more-- saving her life.

Deborah Norville was on “CBS This Morning” last year, feeling very grateful following her successful surgery for thyroid cancer in the spring of 2019. A viewer of “Inside Edition” saw that something didn't look quite right on Deborah’s neck, and alerted her to have it checked out. A cancerous growth was removed, and Norville chronicled the health journey on her broadcast. She proved this morning that there was “hardly a scar” from the surgical incision.

The seasoned TV storyteller urges that every person uses the ever-present cell phone to “put in reminders for the next 20 years” of any body-related issues that “need to be checked” and to keep those appointments. She admitted to Anthony Mason that she unapologetically “a buttinsky” when it comes to mentioning anything troubling that Deborah Norville notices in people around her.

Gayle King put it in the category of “being a good nag.”

Popstar fame was fleeting for Deborah Norville, but she'll always have her song

25 years is plenty of time to poke fun at the hairstyles in the news business. The music-minded Anthony Mason happened to see that Deborah Norville had a long blonde coiffe in a performance segment of her profile, and he couldn't leave it alone.

Deborah Norville explained that the plan for the feature on “Inside Edition” was to showcase the recording engineers in the booth who know how to make every performer sound spectacular, even Madonna and Whitney Houston. Norville was thrilled, thinking she was going to sing the hits from famous artists—she is a trained singer.

Unfortunately “we’re too cheap to pay for anybody else's songs,” she revealed. She wrote her own song, “Keep On Moving.” Deborah Norville considers the tune to be her personal anthem, and she has a registered songwriting credit. She also got a night out with her husband out of the deal once he got a look at her.

For Deborah Norville, a new mommy’s work is never done

In her “Inside Edition” career, not even childbirth was a valid excuse to miss a day at her job. The mother of three recalled being persuaded by a strong-willed producer to do a broadcast from her hospital bed when her baby girl arrived two weeks early.

Deborah Norville distinctly recalls the day she notified her “Inside Edition” about her youngest daughter, Mikaela, now 21, being born two weeks sooner than expected.

“Twenty minutes later,” a producer calls back, speaking faster than an auctioneer, asking Norville to do the news with her baby girl from her bed. Norville consented, on the condition that the hospital would not be disturbed and that the hair and makeup team would arrive one hour before airtime. Both the broadcaster and her baby made it through without a hitch.

The news cycle never stops these days and the show must go on. Deborah Norville savors the energy of life, work, faith, and family, on and off the air.
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