TVSquad

With Diane Sawyer moving from Good Morning, America to World News Tonight, ABC is reportedly hunting around for just the right person to become the new GMA host. The names bandied about include George Stephanopoulos, Bill Weir, Chris Cuomo, David Muir and Cameron Mathison. I am telling you right now, Cameron Mathison would be perfect for Good Morning, America.

While the other men mentioned are all involved in news, Cameron is on All My Children. He's an actor. But he's also an attractive performer and an ABC talent on the rise. He was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, and even though he didn't win, he won over a lot of non-soap viewers who'd never seen him before.

It was big news this week about Charlie Gibson retiring. Later on, when the headline flashed that Charlie was "livid" that Diane Sawyer was chosen to succeed him at the ABC World News anchor desk, I have to admit I was stunned. Why on earth would Charlie Gibson be so vexed by his former Good Morning America partner taking on the job he had chosen to give up?

The Daily Beast story claimed that his reaction came from a unnamed source, and that's what Variety's BLTV was writing about today. He suggested that perhaps the reporter, Rebecca Dana, had relied too much on scuttlebutt and chose to believe that Gibson was ticked off and, thus, went with the story.

I started watching the Inauguration coverage this morning on ABC, where Charlie Gibson intoned about the historical aspects of this event while Diane Sawyer awkwardly tried to keep up. In the third chair was George Stephanopoulos, who I like, but have never paid a whole lot of attention to. He got my attention, however, during this coverage with his constant interjections of random facts.

A few things I learned from George Stephanopoulos this morning:

I don't know if you can hear that rush of wind across America, but that's the sigh of relief that the Presidential election is over. Either that, or it's the millions of yawns coming from viewers like you who watched election coverage through the wee hours of the morning. Many of them, like myself, tuned into coverage hosted by ABC News.

Overall, the team of Charlie Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos did well in keeping the action going when there weren't any results to be called, which was most of the time. Other than 11:00 p.m., the winner calls only made up one to two minutes of each hour. So, the rest of the time was used for analysis, exit poll results, and playing with the touch screen map. It was after Obama was declared the winner that they were able to relay the excitement of the election and what it meant for America.

Okay, it's been about 80 minutes since ABC News began their coverage of the elections, and I have just one thing to say: Diane Sawyer is hot! And, I guess George Stephanopoulos is cute, as well. Other than that, there isn't much else to report about the early coverage of the 2008 Presidential election. Which, I have heard, is historic. I know this because I heard it mentioned 550 times since coverage began.

So far, I give high marks to the team of Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer, and George. I can't put my finger on it, but they seem to be the classiest and most qualified team of the Big Three networks. It's probably Charlie, who is the veteran of all of the current national news anchors. Plus, you know, Diane is hot. Together, they were able to keep the coverage moving during the first hour as the exit poll results were few and far between.

Speaking about those election results ... Thumbs up to ABC for not giving their estimates of winners in those states that are too close to call. Sure, it really didn't do much to pump up the election coverage energy, but it prevented me from throwing my remote at my HDTV screen and screaming that they were ruining the election. By the way, why does ABC's HDTV channel have the lowest volume on any channel? My volume control doesn't go high enough to get the proper sound. So, it's standard analog coverage for me, thank you very much.

Diane Keaton totally dropped the F-Bomb on Good Morning America! And they didn't even bleep it.

Keaton was being interviewed by Diane Sawyer, presumably about her new movie Mad Money. Sawyer is about to pose a question when Diane Keaton stops and compliments her on her lips (which are quite nice, I must say). Keaton laments that she doesn't have such nice lips cause if she did, she wouldn't have to work so damn hard on her "f*cking personality."

This is why I "heart" Diane Keaton. Of the two Dianes, clearly Keaton has the personality. She doesn't have to work on it.

The video is after the jump...

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Nicole Richie is doing a big interview with Diane Sawyer next week. Does this mean that the pregnancy rumors are true? And if so, what should we call it?
• Muppets! Hundreds of them! Retired muppets are getting a new home.
  
• Oprah's perfect reputation took a hit today.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

Page Six in the New York Post is reporting that Diane Sawyer will take over for Charlie Gibson as anchor of ABC's World News after the 2008 presidential election, at least according to industry insiders. Gibson took the job in June knowing that he'd step down after that election, but his replacement wasn't named. The choice of Sawyer is curious, since she's only about two-and-a-half years younger than Gibson (but looks a whole heck of a lot better). You'd think ABC would go younger with the next anchor.

Anyway, the article goes on to speculate what Sawyer will do in the meantime. One theory is that she'll take over hosting duties for Nightline, with Kate Snow, Daryn Kagan, or Campbell Brown taking over for her on Good Morning America. But, remember the source, folks: Page Six's batting average on things like this is around utility-infielder level, so take this whole thing with a lump of salt.

[via Mediabistro]

ABC announced today that Good Morning America's anchor duo of Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer will fill in for Bob Woodruff on World News Tonight. As everyone knows, Woodruff suffered severe injuries in an IED explosion in Iraq. Because his injuries will keep him out of action indefinitely, ABC News president David Westin decided to preserve the dual-anchor format that Woodruff and Elizabeth Vargas started on January 3. To that end, Gibson and Sawyer will take turns co-anchoring WNT with Vargas until Woodrufff is well enough to return.

I would imagine that both Gibson and Sawyer won't venture out into the field much, so look for Vargas to be taking the "intrepid reporter" role so that Westin's vision of having at least one anchor in the field can continue.

The irony, of course, is that Gibson was passed over for Vargas and Woodruff when the permanent pairing was announced in December.

They've been in the news lately, battling for the best guests on their morning shows. Who do you like to watch more?

• Katie Couric: The Today Show
• Diane Sawyer: Good Morning, America

So sayeth Philip Van Munching. Munching, who is admittedly a friend of Couric’s, goes on to defend the recently embattled morning show host from charges that have been leveled against her. He then goes on to explain why The Today Show might have seen a brief dip in their viewer dominance. Essentially he argues the slump had more to do with viewer’s evening TV habits than any shift in national attitude towards Couric in particular and The Today Show in general. Interesting take on the whole situation.

OK, so I was actually going to watch the hour long PrimeTime Live interview with Brad Pitt last night, but I had laundry to do. Hey, I don't mind Brad Pitt. He seems like a cool enough guy, but I just don't know if I could take an hour long interview (an hour) with Diane Sawyer giving him that half flirtatious/half "tell us the real story" expression. Luckily, Slate's Dana Stevens gives us a blow by blow of the show at the link below.