[1] For the previous ten years, the CBC's nightly newscast, The National, had aired at 10 p.m., and was followed by a 40-minute newsmagazine package called The Journal, which was hosted by Barbara Frum.

The CBC's live coverage of the Charlottetown Accord referendum results on October 26, 1992 effectively acted as a soft launch for the show,[2] which formally debuted on November 2.

Critics especially lambasted the debut episode, whose lead story was the last full day of the 1992 United States presidential election, as "an uninspiring collection of newsreading, charts and cutaways to foreign correspondents" more reminiscent of a local television station than a national network with the high reputation of CBC News,[8] and viewer response to the new program's format was highly unfavourable.

[14] Mansbridge again became the sole anchor of the news portion of the show, and Wallin became the host of a magazine segment very similar to The Journal.

Ratings recovered significantly following this shift;[15] by December, the show was regularly drawing fully 95 per cent of The National's former audience.