[3] It was created as a replacement for This Morning, partially in response to criticism that the prior program's prerecorded format had hamstrung the network's ability to pivot to a live breaking news broadcast on the day of the September 11 attacks.
On Fridays during the regular season period, a guest host was often used for the broadcast, who would be introduced on the preceding Thursday to read listener correspondence with Tremonti.
Guest hosts were usually CBC personalities such as Maureen Taylor, Adrienne Arsenault, Nancy Wilson, Erica Johnson, Ian Hanomansing, Piya Chattopadhyay and Anthony Germain, although other Canadian journalists, including Haroon Siddiqui, Jan Wong and David Frum, also appeared.
The themes that were explored have included: During the network's summer schedule when The Current was shortened to an hour, selections of these features were rerun as a separate half-hour program.
In the 2021–22 season, there was a less formal revisiting of the "Work in Progress" theme regarding employment, especially concerning the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with selected interviews occasionally rerun during the summer months in addition to the podcasts.