Major Garrett marks one year of CBS News' The Takeout

Major Garrett’s The Takeout reached its first anniversary on CBS News 24/7 by doing exactly what cable-era political programs increasingly cannot: meeting viewers where they are, whether that means a 5 p.m. ET streaming slot or a podcast feed after the fact.

The show debuted on May 27, 2025, as a nightly streaming version of Garrett’s long-running interview podcast. CBS positioned it as a broader take on political coverage, mixing politics, policy and pop culture with guest interviews, investigative journalism and deeper looks at technology and other major issues. The format reflects a clear bet that political audiences no longer want news delivered only in a linear broadcast block. They want a program that can be watched live, replayed later and carried across platforms.

That strategy matters in a crowded media market where attention is fragmented and news brands are being rebuilt for streaming habits. CBS launched The Takeout on CBS News 24/7 at 5 p.m. ET, then kept the show available as a podcast across platforms and on the CBS News app. The structure gives the program multiple lives each day and multiple chances to find an audience, from commuters and office workers to viewers who prefer to catch up on demand. For a news division, that is both an editorial choice and a distribution strategy.

Garrett is central to the brand’s appeal. He was named CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent in December 2018 after serving as the network’s chief White House correspondent from 2012 to 2018. His move from traditional beat reporting to a format that blends interviews, analysis and culture gives CBS a familiar political voice wrapped in a more flexible product. The original Takeout podcast ended in January 2025 after eight seasons, with Garrett telling listeners there were future plans for the brand. The streaming version became that next chapter.

CBS has framed the show as a non-ideological entry in political media, using the motto “relentlessly curious, steadfastly non-ideological.” That positioning is telling at a time when political programming often leans into partisan identity. The Takeout instead tries to trade on Garrett’s Washington experience and the slower, more conversational cadence that podcast listeners already knew.

One year in, the show is less a nostalgia play than a case study in how news organizations are packaging political journalism for a fragmented audience. The formula now has to work in more than one place at once, and CBS is using Garrett’s name, his reporting background and a flexible platform mix to test how far one brand can travel.