Filling Diane Sawyer's Shoes: Who Should Get GMA?

If you believe the chatter on the Internet right now, George Stephanopoulos is a near-lock to take the reins of Good Morning America following the departure of Diane Sawyer -- with the future of Stephanopoulos's current show, This Week, being the only potential impediment to the deal.

The thing is, that's a hell of an impediment.

In the Sunday morning political show wars, This Week has always lagged behind NBC's perennial powerhouse, Meet the Press. But the former has begun gaining ground lately, and there's no doubt that part of the reason is Stephanopoulos's well-earned political clout, simultaneously easygoing and tenacious style, and the changes that have been made to the show during his time at the helm. Factor in NBC's inexplicable decision to put David Gregory in place as the host and moderator of MTP following the untimely death of Tim Russert -- Gregory being the guy who, although certainly a fine White House correspondent, is also known for his dance moves alongside both "MC Rove" and, even more amusingly, the staff of the Today Show, on which he often filled in -- and you have a weakness in This Week's competition and an object lesson for Stephanopoulos.

NBC wanted Gregory to "do it all," be both a rabid political pit bull and an adorable show pony on its light-as-a-feather morning show (which has turned into little more than a four-hour commercial for other NBC Universal shows across the network's many entities anyway these days). Granted this kind of myopic thinking goes back to the days when CBS pushed Edward R. Murrow to do celebrity interviews that he loathed being associated with. Even at the time, Murrow knew that once you surrendered your gravitas, it was tough to get it back and make the public see you as anything but a guy who peddles fluff.

This is the issue that ABC is going to run into if it tries to give Stephanopoulos Good Morning America while keeping him in place on This Week. And make no mistake: Taking him off of This Week would be a huge mistake right now. Yeah, Jake Tapper or Terry Moran could step in and do a good job -- but with the ratings race tightening, now's not the time to lose the man at the helm.

And I'm not sure George Stephanopoulos wants to give up a position that's not just one of the rare sure things in the volatile world of modern network television, but also stands as a respect and legacy-builder.

So what to do with Good Morning America?

Honestly, it's hard to imagine the descendant of a powerful political family being an underdog, but in this case he kind of is: Give the gig to Chris Cuomo.

The guy's a rock-solid news anchor and interviewer and he's already a well-liked presence on GMA. Far too often in the business of TV news, the enlightened beings in the Adminisphere go looking for a magic bullet when it comes time to replace a famous face on-air. They look for new blood to inject into the system, figuring it'll bring in new viewers. But it's tough to imagine that that's what they'll get with Stephanopoulos. Choosing Cuomo, though, may be exactly the right move given the current cultural and economic climate. Once again, there are few in this country who could feel honest-to-God kinship with the son of Mario Cuomo, but there are quite a few people who understand what it's like to go to work every day and yet get shafted when the time comes for a potential promotion. Cuomo's talented, smart, funny, versatile -- a necessary quality to excel in morning news; and he's got the human touch, often coming off as a down-to-earth family man -- also a necessary quality to excel in the morning.

And again, giving him the reins of GMA will be seen as rewarding a guy who's always been a workhorse for you. Viewers will identify with that.

Stephanopoulos could do the job -- don't misunderstand. But as Bob Scheiffer commented in his direction recently, "George, I hope you know what you're gettin' into, son."

And political junkies should hope ABC realizes what they're getting into if they pull George Stephanopoulos off of This Week, or try to have it all and stretch him and his reputation too thin.

Giving Cuomo the job represents a rare thing in the network TV news business: a win-win.

 

Follow Chez Pazienza on Twitter: www.twitter.com/chezpazienza

Comments

[suec03]

Please, oh please, George Stephanopoulos: pull a Hillary Clinton and kill this rumor once and for all. Hosting GMA would be a career killer and a waste! No need to follow in Charlie Gibson's footsteps to GMA to get to World News Tonight. There are other ways to get there. Stay focused on This Week. Yours is the only Sunday show that includes some of my favorites on your roundtable: Robert Kuttner, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, etc. If they have been included in any significant way on that insufferable Meet the Press with David Gregory, I've missed it. The best Meet the Press shows are when Rachel Maddow is on the roundtable. She actually brings something new while other panelist rehash the same old opinions. Sundays are for This Week, Fareed Zakaria GPS and Amanpour. Good Morning America would just be the wrong venue! You would get frustrated with the light, trite stories and wind up looking grumpy like Bryant Gumbel did on the Today Show.

[CNNfan]

So... To replace:
• This Week with George Stephanopoulos

In no particular order, which sounds better?
• This Week with Cokie Roberts
• This Week with Donna Brazile
• This Week with George Will
• This Week with Sam Donaldson
• This Week with → fill in the blank ←

[hallowellboy]

Gregory dancing with Karl Rove has scarred me for life. I can't watch him on anything. No principles. Unfortunately Diane Sawyer isn't much better. Try again ABC.

[gdouglasw]

as said "The intelligent and witty Bill Weir should get the gig.
He's done his time co-hosting the weekend version of GMA and deserves the chance."

And bring in Kate Snow for newsreader. Cuomo is too smug and self reverential.

[gdouglasw]

[jollyelle]

He's too stiff to do the fluffy morning job as an anchor. He wouldn't be playing to his strengths........
he'd end up hating all the meaningless blather they discuss on those morning shows........

stay on "This Week"!!!!!

in fact, come up with a "report card" show that will actually explain and hold accountable things and people in our government to busy everyday people who are more interested in what's really going on.

Don't do it, George, you can do better.

[Imzadi]

I hope he does take the GMA job.

"This Week" is so right-leaning along with terrible panelists like Will and Noonan we won't miss it one iota.

[suec03]

But since George took charge, he has brought new faces to the roundtable, including American Prospect magazine's Robert Kuttner and Robert Reich, Nobel Prize winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, and even the Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel. I could not have imagined them as frequent guests when David Brinkley set the tone for the show.

[klondiker]

Totally agree. It would be stupid move for GS. I don't even know why he would consider it (maybe they're offering a lot more money). But, right now, he has a show that is at least somewhat serious and deals with substantive issues. I actually prefer it now to MTP, seeing as David Gregory is such a lightweight.

[ChiGuy]

The intelligent and witty Bill Weir should get the gig.
He's done his time co-hosting the weekend version of GMA and deserves the chance.

[killeenb]

GMA Weekend anchor Bill Weir should be put on the Monday thru Friday GMA. He is very talented - a good interviewer and VERY quick-witted. He is perfect for that job and should have been given it a long time ago instead of Robin Roberts. One of the worst interviewers in the history of broadcast journalism.

[mcsbutrfly]

I LOVE CHRIS CUOMO!!!
George is a bit to serious for a morning show. He should stick to political commentary.

[Witchitalineman]

Don't like David Gregory and can't get the picture of his "dancing" behind Karl Rove out of my mind. OMG!

[Connie Sullivan]

I agree w/ Irish Taco. I want George on Sunday morning and Chris during the week w/ Robin. I watch GMA every morning and can't imagine it w/out Chris. Chris and Robin would be dynamite!!

[IrishTaco]

I will be one mad viewer if they take George off of This Week. It is appointment tele in my house. If I miss George on Sunday I don't feel right for the rest of the week! I love that guy! Who watches GMA?? I never have.

[DeeW]

I was more interested in the photo on the main page - who was that dancing ? the guy from MTP? lol

[SharonaMonk]

I KNOW!! I wanted to see the video! lmao!!! And yea I think that's David Gregory.

[SharonaMonk]

lol. Here is the video link. His dancing starts about 40 seconds in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmEzJGhcmAo

[IntelligenceQuantifier]

Yes it is David Gregory, and to my amazement, the man is a very good dancer, LOL

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/06/david-gregory-gets-dance_n_105729.html