Ever since ABC’s “Good Morning America” introduced the “happy talk” format into network morning news back in 1975, viewers seem to base their choice of which show to watch by how much the on-air correspondents feel like a family — or, more precisely, like parts of a family.
On NBC’s “Today,” Katie Couric and Matt Lauer acted like a pair of teasing siblings. Before that, Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley often came across like a father and his bright, ambitious daughter.
In his first week on “Good Morning America,” George Stephanopoulos hasn’t quite found in his place in the on-air family, which consists of his co-anchor, Robin Roberts, the weatherman Sam Champion and a new news anchor, Juju Chang.
As might be expected, given his background in politics and political journalism, he handles the hard-news parts of the job ably. But he is either a nonfactor or visibly awkward when he participates in lighter segments or interacts with ordinary people.
At times, it felt as if Stephanopoulos were grinning and bearing the job as a temporary but necessary stop along the route to being the anchor of the evening news.
One problem with Stephanopoulos as a morning newsman is purely physical. Though his thick head of hair and wide smile make him a telegenic presence, he looks tiny in the obligatory wide shots with his three colleagues, especially when he stands next to Roberts, a former sports reporter who played basketball in college.
In a segment in which the cast discussed the Golden Globe nominations while seated on high director’s chairs, Roberts’ feet were grazing the floor while Stephanopoulos’ barely touched his footrest.
The biggest part of a morning news anchor’s job is doing interviews, whether it be with newsmakers, regular people caught up in big stories or correspondents during the obligatory Q&As after the correspondents’ reports.
Talking to his colleagues or to politicians or government officials, Stephanopoulos oozes intelligence. After years hosting “The Week” on Sunday, he probably knows more than most of his interviewees. Grilling the former presidential candidate Howard Dean about the Senate’s health-care bill, he was on point and suitably aggressive.
He was less successful in his first week with other types of subjects. Talking to the father of Susan Powell, a Utah woman who disappeared on Dec. 7, he kept trying and failing to get the reticent man to say that he was suspicious of his son-in-law. Stephanopoulos ended the segment by saying, “There is a man clearly struggling with his doubts.”
A talk with the actor Robert Downey Jr. was a little painful to watch. Downey was being snarky, second-guessing Stephanopoulos’ questions, and often left the interviewer flat-footed.
The show is studiously avoiding sexism in assigning stories to Stephanopoulos and Roberts: She gets as many “serious” topics as he does. In fact, although this may only be because she’s been on the job longer, Roberts currently comes across as the lead anchor.
When it was announced that Stephanopoulos was considering this job, many critics wondered how he would handle a cooking segment. In this week’s only such spot, a cook-off between the celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Mario Battali, Stephanopoulos handled it by standing off to the side and not saying anything while his three colleagues joked around.
Stephanopoulos is still working on his bantering skills. In a segment about when parents should talk to their children about sex, he said, “I’ve already started it with my little girls.”
As the cast set up a performance by the former rock star Darius Rucker, who recently won a Country Music Association Award as best new artist, Stephanopoulos said, “I love crossover stories.”
After the song, Chang said to Rucker, “Congratulations, Darius. You got George Stephanopoulos to sway.”
Viewers had to take her word for it. The next day, however, as the singer-songwriter Robin Thicke was performing, Chang said, “We’re all just swaying.” In fact, she, Roberts and Champion were swaying while Stephanopoulos stood with his knees locked.
Maybe Stephanopoulos’ role in the family will be as the smart one who everyone teases for being stiff. Or maybe he’ll gradually loosen up: Jane Pauley was generally criticized for her cold on-camera demeanor when she started on “Today” and ended her tenure on the show with everyone calling her the most beloved woman on TV.
Stephanopoulos has already made the difficult transition from politico to journalist. However long he keeps the “GMA” job, this crossover story will probably end happily.
Tom Conroy is a Connecticut writer and longtime TV critic.
