NEW YORK — Two months after Bryant Gumbel exited as host of The Early Show, CBS still hasn't named a successor. But the pool of potential replacements this week.

        The network gave Russ Mitchell, host of CBS' Saturday morning news show, additional duties as a correspondent on CBS News Sunday Morning.

        The weekend work takes him out of the running for the weekday job, CBS News spokeswoman Sandra Genelius said. Mitchell is filling in on The Early Show this week with co-anchor Jane Clayson.

        CBS has tested different hosts, including Hollywood Squares host Tom Bergeron, chief White House correspondent John Roberts, and former Today co-host Deborah Norville, but hasn't settled on anyone.

        The indecision hasn't seemed to matter much in the ratings.

        During the first post-Gumbel weeks, The Early Show — which badly trails both NBC's Today and ABC's Good Morning America in the ratings — was down 4 percent in viewership. Today was down 7 percent and GMA down 5 percent in the same period, according to Nielsen Media Research. (In summer viewership generally goes down.)

        CBS probably won't feel pressure to have someone on the job until the new season starts in September.

        And the network shouldn't force the issue until it can appoint someone with full confidence, said Alan Bell, president of Freedom Broadcasting, which owns five CBS stations.

        “The worst thing you can do is make a move that tells the audience you don't know what you're doing,” he said.

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