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.

When Peter Jennings passed away and Bob Woodruff was injured, one of the names that popped up as a replacement on ABC World News was Diane Sawyer. Now, a couple of years later, that's actually coming true.

ABC has announced that Charles Gibson will step down as anchor of the show in January. Sawyer will take over for him. Of course, that means that Sawyer will step down from her hosting gig on Good Morning America. No, I don't think there's any chance that Gibson will switch places with her and go back to GMA, but who the heck knows (ABC is using the word "retires"). Gibson does say that he wants to continue working with ABC News in some way.

So we have two big stories here: two women as network news anchors (Sawyer and Katie Couric at CBS) and the question of who will replace Sawyer in the morning. Or maybe they'll just stick with three hosts/co-hosts (Robin Roberts, Chris Cuomo, and Sam Champion). Who do you think should take over on GMA?

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.

Annie recently posted her top 10 Kristen Wiig Saturday Night Live moments, and I happen to agree that Wiig seems to be one of the SNL MVPs now. Remember just a short time ago when she was in the "featuring" category instead of one of the main players? She's earned it, that's for sure. Even when her impersonations aren't dead on (such as this past weekend's Elisabeth Hasselbeck), you know who she's doing, and she really throws herself into the character. I think her Hasselbeck will get better, and her other impersonations have been just dead-on and brilliant (Judy Garland, Suze Orman, Gloria Swanson, Jamie Lee Curtis).

But I was thinking that there are three other people that would be naturals for Wiig to impersonate.

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...

About two years ago, I set out to list the hottest women on TV who are over 40, over 50, and over 60. There were a lot candidates to choose from, even in the over 60 category, making it a particularly tough set of list to compose.

But now that our friends at AOL have decided to compile a list of TV's 50 sexiest women of all time (starting today with Nos. 50-41), I'm going to take on an even greater challenge: making one master list of seventeen beauties over 40. It's not as easy as you think; the TV landscape has changed a bit, and a few new strong contenders have recently entered their 40s, and a few of the previous list members have left the TV landscape. To make this list, a woman has to have been a regular or significant guest on a TV series or news program in 2007. So, after the jump, a list -- in no particular order -- of fifteen beauties who combine looks, maturity and grace to make one compellingly sexy package.

Thumbnails are with the list, but you can click on the gallery below to get a much better view of these lovely women. Then add your own choices in the comments.

I bet Rosie O'Donnell's publisher is going bananas over this one. Rosie has turned down an invitation to be on Oprah to talk about a new "tell all" book she wrote, called Celebrity Detox. According to the New York Post, she has granted Diane Sawyer the one and only interview about the book.

But Rosie's personal blog tells a different story. I'll spare you her haiku/text message writing style and tell you what it says: Basically, the book is full of emotional stuff and Rosie's not ready to talk about it. She says she is not doing any interviews regarding the book and makes no mention of Diane Sawyer.

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.

After 27 days, Britney Spears is out of rehab and on the loose. No doubt the paparazzi will be hounding her more than ever, but you know that the traditional media-types are also calling for the story. At some point, Britney will talk. Was she an alcoholic? Was it drugs? Exhaustion? Or post-partum depression? Inquiring minds need to know!

But, who will she talk to? The options are varied. She could go to Oprah or Barbara Walters-- those two would be the biggies. Katie Couric is no doubt calling. And Matt Lauer. And Diane Sawyer. People magazine is a possibility, or maybe even something a little more upscale like Vanity Fair. There's always David Letterman, who frequently gets surprise visits from Britney. (Although, that would be a big letdown because ol' Dave will probably let her off the hook after a joke or two)

What do you think was the #1 TiVoed (yeah, it's a verb now) moments of 2006? Was it an episode of Lost? Was it an episode of Grey's Anatomy or CSI or Desperate Housewives? How about one of the World Series games or the Super Bowl or maybe the finale of American Idol?

After the jump check out the list of the top 10 recorded moments according to TiVo. I guarantee a couple of them will be a surprise to you.

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 News announced that Chris Cuomo will join the team at Good Morning America. Cuomo will retain his positions as co-anchor of Primetime Live and as the network's senior legal correspondent. So... that'll help when he has to interview Britney Spears. Actually, that'll be Robin Roberts' job. Cuomo is sliding into her old position as a news reader and features reporter. Cuomo joins GMA on Sept. 5.