The official word is that Christiane Amanpour wants to get back into reporting from the field — not that This Week’s ratings have slipped. She’ll become a roving Global Affairs anchor hosting six prime time specials a year, along with work on other ABC News shows. In addition, she’ll anchor a new show about global affairs on CNN International. Meanwhile George Stephanopolous moves back to the Sunday talk show in time for the political election season, while he continues his job as co-host of Good Morning America. Amanpour says that her new role ”is groundbreaking, bold and very different!” CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton was also effusive in his praise for Amanpour, saying that she “has been synonymous with international reporting and with CNN for many years. We could not be happier that through this unique arrangement with ABC News her experience and global perspective are returning to a nightly news broadcast for our international audience.” But it will be interesting to see whether more viewers tune in to This Week which has struggled since she moved to the anchor desk in early 2010. On Dec. 4 it attracted 2.3M viewers, behind Meet The Press with 3.0M and Face The Nation with 3.3M. ABC says that White House correspondent Jake Tapper will appear “significantly more” frequently on the Sunday show with Stephanopolous.


Thank the big TV god in the sky — I’m saved from David Gregory… This is welcome news, indeed… Sunday morning has sucked since Tim croaked.
My wife and I are delighted that she’s moving on…the show was unwatchable with her forcing her opinions on the round table, the constant program shifting, and general bias.
Too bad Tapper is not getting the full-time gig, but hopefully he’ll move into the role if George gets too busy.
I tuned out when Amanpour took over. Not that I’m a big fan of Stephanopolous, but I’ll tune in again now that she’s gone.
Oh good. I like George’s commentary and he is better at keeping the guests focused. Amanpour is brilliant in the field.
This is great news, not only because Stephanopolous has a nuanced command of presidential politics and has turned himself into a skillful interviewer, but most of all because Amanpour was the worst–boorish, a ham-fisted questioner, blissfully ignorant about domestic U.S. issues, and determined to hijack the show to serve her own peevish partisan interests (as when she changed the intro to the weekly “In Memoriam” segment so that it no longer honored the American service men and women killed in combat that week, but instead “everyone killed in war,” which prsumably includes the foot soldiers of Al Queda and Hamas. And she was insufferable to George Will, who is easily the best thing about this show. About time she was shit-canned.
When George Will is the best thing about anything it is time to flush the flusher… gee whiz, what a pompous idiot he is.
George Stephanopoulos rocked on ‘This Week’. I considered him the true successor to Tim Russert.
Amanpour just doesn’t relate well to domestic politics. So, I’m so glad to hear of this change. Will be watching again for the first time since George left.
Getting rid of Amanpour is a wise decision. She seemed almost bored dealing with national issues.
They should just setle for some one that will be a good constant fit on this show and not play musical chars with the seat. They’re working george a little too hard now and Tapper would be a nice fit for the seat, or maybe Terry Moran could work out as well.
Oh I don’t care about GMA but am glad she’s going back to reporting. International reporting is what she’s best at.
Is it possible to find a moderator who wasn’t an integral part of a political machine? If you saw ‘The War Room’, you know that George is not and never will be objective about politics. I’d take Carrot Top over Amanpour, though.
He should take as many jobs as he can so he doesn’t have to
deal with his insane talent lite wife Ali Wentworth who must
be eating herself alive when she watches Chelsea Handler and Whitney
Cummings careers!
Good riddance!
Let’s just get Josh Elliot moved to the main desk on GMA and let George go back to being a serious newscaster.
Watching Amanpour ask people over and over again why Americans don’t appreciate the Bystander-In-Chief’s brilliance was bad enough but watching her ignore the crimes and trash and lawlessness while trying to promote the Occutard movement was the last straw. Stephanopolous is a dem shill but at least he doesn’t seem completely clueless.
I agree that this is a good development. I have been a long-term viewer and felt that the show took a notable turn for the worse with Christiane. Recently, I’ve found it particularly off-putting the way that she interviews Republican backrunners from a negative viewpoint as though they should explain why they are not deluded for pressing on. That puts them on the defensive right away and shuts off the free exchange. She probably thinks she is asking tough questions whereas they are mostly just rude and stifling.
I lean Republican but I think George has been very good in the past and gives essentially equal opportunity to opposing viewpoints. Someone commented that he shows a strong Democratic bias but I haven’t observed that. Unlike Christiane, he doesn’t push to get the last word in on an answer that he doesn’t like.
One complaint that I do have about the show in general is that they bring back too many guests that have thoroughly proven themselves a waste of time from an informational standpoint because they only talk their straight party line no matter what the issue. David Axelrod (D) and Mitch McConnell (R) are examples. Donna Brazile at the round table is also dedicated solely to endorsing Democratic and African American causes. Paul Krugman shouldn’t be on the show because he would be a threat to the national economy if anyone would ever listen to his ideas.
I can understand how George Will is a polarizing figure for some but he is the main draw for me. I think he has blisteringly keen common sense. He’s a fiscal conservative without being tied up in religion and he calls things as he sees them no matter who is in the line of fire (with the exception that he is going soft on Perry now that his wife works for Pery’s campaign). Of course, he has constipated verbal expression (his writing is even worse) and he wants us all to know what a smart historian he is by dragging up examples from the long past that often seem at best only vaguely relevant to the topic at hand. However, I can tolerate his flaws for the good insights he gives.
You people are just plain stupid- Christiane is the best thing to hit American airwaves and she rocked the show- smart and international- just Americans are too stupid to care…I will miss her Sunday mornings and George sucks- total lightweight. Will continue to pass on ABC- We all mourn Tim but alas Sunday has never been the same.
Good bye Christiane! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
I do not think that just because she made us question US popular dogma that made her anti-USA. Infact that is what we need. By any measure it is clear the average native US citizen is woefully ignorant about the World at large. In these days of the Internet and access to Information, it is crucial for our National Security we view the rest of the World with appropriate respect. American Exceptionalism in mind, the World is a differnt place and Imperialism in any form dificult to effect and susstain.
I always thought that This Week was a step down for Christiane. Her vast knowledge and experience with international affairs had to be totally stiffled sitting with a bunch of talking heads who continue to say the same thing. I still miss Kokie Robert. George comes across as a good well informed guy. He is much better at this position than GMA. That’s definitely not his forte. Good luck to all.