ABC offers
Stephanopoulos 'GMA' job
The 'This Week' anchor would succeed Sawyer
By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Dec 4, 2009
ABC has settled on its replacement for Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America." The question now is whether that person actually wants to join "GMA."
ABC tendered an offer to the host of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" yesterday, according to numerous reports, though the network has not confirmed the offer.
Stephanopoulos, the former Bill Clinton aide who has hosted "This Week" since 2002, is mulling his options after days of back and forth between the two sides over what exactly his "GMA" role would be.
Stephanopoulos is reportedly wary of losing the hard-news cred he's built up over the years. When he first came to ABC, many dismissed him as a Democratic lapdog, but he's become a respected analyst who is tough on both parties, and who also serves as the network's chief Washington correspondent.
Stephanopoulos had wanted to restructure the "GMA" hosting role to allow him to work the first hour of the broadcast focused on hard news, pushing into the second hour of the show the softer, more featurey stuff that sets the morning shows apart from the evening newscasts.
But ABC reportedly decided, while restructuring the show to focus on hard news in the first hour, to require him to host both hours, alongside current co-host Robin Roberts.
If Stephanopoulos accepts, he'll be following the path of two other hard-news veterans, current "World News" anchor Charles Gibson and his successor, Sawyer, who rode "GMA" into the anchor chair.
But there's still one stumbling block. ABC reportedly wants Stephanopoulos to give up anchoring "This Week," something he's loathe to do. "This Week" has been creeping ever-closer to NBC's long-dominant "Meet the Press" in the ratings following the death of Tim Russert and that show's decline.
Should Stephanopoulos turn down the anchor job, ABC would reportedly look next to "GMA" news anchor Chris Cuomo. Should Stephanopoulos stay, Cuomo is expected to exit; he's reportedly had offers from other networks.
Of course, if Stephanopoulos takes the job, that just sets up another succession problem: Who will host "This Week?" There are even fewer obvious candidates than for "GMA."
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