“CBS This Morning” now as a Facebook page. It went up yesterday. Go ahead. Like it. You know you want to.

You may recall CBS “Early Show” fans turned to Facebook around this time last year. They created a page to save the then-current “Early Show” team of Harry Smith, Maggie Rodriguez and Dave Price. It didn’t work out so well, but the page got up to 1,540 likes and has a wall post as recent as last week.

First on TVNewser: Harry Smith, who has been with CBS News for 25 years, is leaving the network, we’ve learned. In a note to the staff, obtained by TVNewser, CBS News president David Rhodes writes, “Harry Smith has been a fixture here at CBS News for a generation — he joined us in Dallas in 1986 — but today he’s decided to move on.”

Late last year, Smith was part of a shuffling of anchors at “The Early Show.” The team of Smith, Maggie Rodriguez and Dave Price was moved out, as Erica Hill, Chris Wragge, Marysol Castro and Jeff Glor took over.

We hear Smith is headed to NBC News where he’ll be a part of the new primetime news magazine show anchored by Brian Williams. That show is being headed up by another CBS News alum, Rome Hartman.

> Update: NBC News confirms with TVNewser that Smith is joining the network. They will announce the move on Monday.

Memo to staff from Rhodes, after the jump…

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Today is the last (official) day for the current “Early Show” team of Harry Smith, Maggie Rodriguez and Dave Price, with a new anchor crew coming on board in January.

Some people are not taking the change well:

There is also a “Save the Current Early Show Team” page on Facebook, but the 822 “likes” probably aren’t enough to force CBS to make any changes.

It’s good to be king. Ask Jim Bell.

The executive producer of NBC’s “Today” – No. 1 for 15 years, as of Dec. 11 – is not exactly quaking in his loafers about the all-new lineup for CBS’s third-place ‘Early Show.’

Erica Hill, Chris Wragge, Jeff Glor and Marysol Castro will replace the team of Harry Smith, Maggie Rodriguez and Dave Price beginning Jan. 3, the network announced Tuesday.

While hesitant to react to the changes himself, Big Jim confesses he was tickled by a tweet from The Daily Beast’s Kate Aurthur that read: “In theory, I like Maggie Rodriguez and am sad she’s gone from ‘CBS Early Show.’ In practice, I watch ‘Today’ like everybody else.”

The question, of course, is how CBS will pull itself out of the Nielsen basement it has occupied, seemingly, since the invention of the cathode ray tube.

“I don’t know if anything will make a difference, but they’re willing to try, and we have to take it seriously,” says Bell.

Comparing the move, as have some bloggers, to re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic is “an unfair and mean-spirited characterization that unfortunately seems to play well in places where people can post anonymous comments,” Bell says.

Steve Friedman, executive producer of MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan show, did two tours at CBS running the morning program and was e.p. of “Today.” Given the money at stake, he says CBS had no choice but to try, try, try again.

“I applaud them for saying, ‘OK, we’re going to start over.’ These are ensemble shows. There’s no such thing as ‘I do good and you don’t.’ The ensemble wasn’t working. To hold the new guy running the show [David Friedman, no relation] responsible for other anchor teams is crazy.”

Equally crazy, he says, is the notion that CBS is somehow cursed in the mornings.

“You’re cursed until you’re not. You fail until you succeed. Today’s cursed failure is

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Harry Smith used his “Just a Minute” feature on CBS Radio News to discuss his impending departure from CBS’ “The Early Show.”

“I’m leaving my job on ‘The Early Show’ soon, but I will always be grateful for having one of the best seats in the house.”

• Here’s the audio

As we reported yesterday, Smith as well as co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez and weather guy Dave Price are being moved off the show. CBS News & Sports president Sean McManus wrote that the three, “are moving on to new and significant roles at CBS News that capitalize on their talents and their interests.”

Smith and Price were on today’s show. Rodriguez was not. The new anchor team takes over January 3.

As we reported earlier, CBS News announced sweeping changes to its morning news program “The Early Show.” Anchors Maggie Rodriguez and Harry Smith, along with weather anchor Dave Price will all leave the program, with Chris Wragge, Erica Hill, Jeff Glor and Marysol Castro taking over January 3rd.

TVNewser spoke to “Early Show” executive producer David Friedman–now almost exactly a year into his current role– about the decision to relaunch the program with a new team.

TVNewser: Why did you decide to make the changes at The Early Show?

David Friedman: Well, I started here a year ago, and when I came in the goal was to continue to grow this show and be more and more competitive in the morning, I looked at every single aspect of the show, from content to bookings to staffing, talent, and my big priority was not to rush to do anything, but to soak it all in and make decisions that would take us to the next level.

This was a very long process to figure out what would do just that, and put a team in place that would make us even better than we already are and going forward. It wasn’t a rushed thing, we have been talking about different options and different teams for a quite a while, and we decided this was the way to go. I am sure it feels abrupt to everyone else, but we have put a lot of thought into it.

TVN: How did you decide on the anchor lineup that will be starting January 3^rd?

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That didn’t take long. Here’s the new publicity photo of the new CBS “Early Show” anchor team, beginning January 3, 2011. It was announced this morning that current anchors Harry Smith, Maggie Rodriguez, and Dave Price are all being moved off the show, but have been offered jobs at the network.

(l-r) Jeff Glor moves from correspondent and anchor of The “CBS Evening News” Saturday edition to news anchor on “Early”. Chris Wragge will leave his anchor job at WCBS-TV and co-anchor of “Early Show” Saturday to become co-anchor of the weekday edition. Erica Hill moves up from newsreader and weekend co-anchor to weekday co-anchor and Marysol Castro, late of ABC’s “Good Morning America” weekend joins as weather anchor.

TVNewser’s Alex Weprin will be speaking with “Early Show” EP David Friedman about the changes this afternoon. Look for that story in a few hours.

TVNewser hears that an anchor change is in store at CBS’ “The Early Show.” Co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez is believed to be leaving the program, with news anchor Erica Hill to step in and take her place.

The announcement could be made as soon as today. Rodriguez anchored the program this morning (left) alongside Harry Smith.

A spokesperson for CBS News would not confirm the report, and said that the network does not comment on rumors and speculation. Rodriguez joined “The Early Show” as a co-anchor in 2007, and had previously served as co-anchor of the Saturday edition of the program. Before that, she worked at CBS O&O WFOR in Miami, Florida.

Hill joined CBS full-time earlier this year. She has been co-anchor of the Saturday “Early Show” since 2008.

> More: The AP”s David Bauder reports that co-anchor Harry Smith and weather anchor Dave Price will also be leaving the show, and will be replaced by Chris Wragge and Marysol Castro, respectively.

> More: Insiders tell us Smith will stay with CBS News in an as-yet determined position. Smith, who has co-anchored “Early” since 2002, joined CBS News as a Dallas-based correspondent in 1986.

> Confirmed: Internal memo from CBS News & Sports president Sean McManus after the jump. The “exciting changes” take effect Jan. 3.

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The wedding is still many months away, but network anchors are rushing to the U.K. anyway now that the royal wedding is on. “Today” show national correspondent Natalie Morales, GMA Weekend co-anchor Bianna Golodryga, and “The Early Show” news anchor Erica Hill are all catching flights tonight. Before Hill packed for her trip to England, she spoke with TVNewser about CBS’ royal wedding plans.

TVNewser: Are there any big interviews already set up when you get there?
Erica Hill: I’m playing phone tag right now with all of my producers. So I know we’re working on it. I don’t have the final list yet, because I know it’s not confirmed. But I can tell you it will be good stuff.
TVNewser: You got married about 5 years ago. Was it a huge spectacle or a small ceremony?
Erica Hill: It was fairly low-key and would not even compare to a royal wedding. But it was perfect for my husband and I.
TVNewser: Why do you think Americans care about British monarchs? Read more

The secret has been revealed: NBC’s “Today” hosts celebrated Halloween with a “pop culture extravaganza.” Does this beat last year’s ewok-humping “Star Wars” theme? Trick question: Nothing beats “Star Wars.”

From left: Natalie Morales (Justin Bieber), Will Ferrell (Megamind), Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey),  Ann Curry (Amelia Earhart),  Meredith Vieira (Lady Gaga) and Al Roker (Superman) on Rockefeller Plaza.

CBS News’­ “Early Show” anchors revealed their costumes during a “Halloween extravaganza” on the plaza.

From left: Harry Smith (“Glee’s” Sue Sylvester), Erica Hill (Lady Gaga), and Maggie Rodriguez (Kim Kardashian).

Find out if GMA stuck to their no costumes plans after the jump…

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