Charlie Rose is slated to return to his co-anchoring duties on “CBS This Morning” on Monday after taking time off to deal with heart surgery, his co-anchors on the CBS morning show told viewers at the start of the program Friday morning.

Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell and Anthony Mason, the weekend host and business correspondent who has been filling in for Rose, said the veteran anchor is in good health and was excited to return to the program.

“I can’t wait to see my friends at CTM who have been so gracious in sitting in for me and making up for the fact that I was not there especially Gayle and Norah, and a special thanks to Anthony Mason who not only has done such a remarkable job filling in for me but also on my PBS show,” Rose said in a statement.

His presence will stabilize the line-up of the program as CBS hopes to boost its ratings performance in the morning against rivals “Good Morning America” on ABC and “Today” on NBC. The CBS program has helped the network mount its most competitive A.M. offering in years. While it continues to rank third in viewership, it has narrowed the gap it has with its two sunshine-slot rivals.

“CBS This Morning” has attracted notice for eschewing many of the traditional trappings of morning TV. The program has no smiling meteorologist and segments in which the co-anchors journey out to the streets around the studio to greet well-wishes and curiosity-seekers. Instead, “CBS This Morning” opts for a heavier reliance on a newsier presentation, even when exploring celebrity and popular culture.

The network is eager to have the show gain second-place status. “I want to be north of 4 million viewers on more days than not,” said Ryan Kadro, the show’s executive producer in an interview with Variety earlier this year. ABC’s “Today” garnered more than 4.6 million viewers in the fourth quarter, while NBC’s “Today” lured more than 4.5 million. “We realize we have a lot of work to do,” Kadro said, but the network is “making a push to be number two.”