By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 24, 2006; C01
At a staff meeting in ABC's sixth-floor conference room on Manhattan's West Side yesterday, Diane Sawyer led the "Good Morning America" staff in a standing ovation for Charlie Gibson, who choked up as he spoke of leaving the program.
"There were a lot of tears," said the show's executive producer, Ben Sherwood. "Charlie gave a heartfelt talk about how much he loves 'GMA.' " Sawyer described herself and Gibson as "Siamese anchors" and jokingly asked whether he would finally answer his phone on the weekends and get a BlackBerry.
The news that Gibson is giving up his morning job to anchor ABC's "World News Tonight" -- leaving Sawyer to share the program with Robin Roberts, who was elevated to a third co-anchor spot a year ago -- instantly reverberated across town to NBC. While Brian Williams at "NBC Nightly News" will be gaining a strong competitor in the evening, the network's top-rated "Today" show -- itself in transition -- may have caught a break.
"I guess that's the conventional wisdom, but I'm not so sure of the degree to which that's going to affect things," said Jim Bell, "Today's" executive producer. "They've had plenty of mornings where they've gotten by just fine with two instead of three personalities."
"Today," of course, is about to undergo its own transformation, with Meredith Vieira replacing Katie Couric as co-host. Couric's current partner, Matt Lauer, said that Vieira, a former panelist on ABC's "The View" and host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," will change the "Today" chemistry with her September debut. "Meredith will bring a different energy, different sensibility to the show -- not better, not worse, but different," Lauer said. "That forces us all to reexamine what we do. . . . There's clearly going to be more weight placed on my shoulders."
Morning viewers -- the majority of them women -- tend to be creatures of habit, and "Today" has been No. 1 with Couric and Lauer for a decade. A strong run by the ABC show last year fell short of overtaking "Today" in the ratings. This season, "Today" has averaged just over 6 million viewers, "GMA" 5.2 million, and CBS's "Early Show," in which Harry Smith is joined by three co-hosts, 2.9 million.
While the evening anchor job still carries the most prestige, the morning shows have become the big moneymakers for the network's news divisions. And history shows that transitions are risky business. The "Today" shift in 1989 from Jane Pauley to Deborah Norville was a disaster, repaired only by Couric's ascension in 1991. And when Joan Lunden and then Gibson left "GMA" in 1998, the pairing of Kevin Newman and Lisa McRee was so unsuccessful that Gibson and Sawyer were pressed into emergency service and never left.
The two have grown very close. Despite published speculation that Sawyer wanted the evening news job, ABC executives say she never sought the anchor chair and encouraged Gibson to take the job, even though it broke up their partnership. Sawyer has agreed to stay at "GMA" at least into 2007 but has never made long-term commitments to the show.
For the moment, ABC seems comfortable sticking with Roberts, a native of Pass Christian, Miss., who previously worked at ESPN and did play-by-play for Women's National Basketball Association games. Roberts joined "GMA" as a newsreader in 2002.
"GMA" plans to install a man in that job soon. Among those being considered are Bill Weir, co-host of "GMA's" weekend edition; Chris Cuomo, a "Primetime" anchor and son of the former New York governor; and Bill Ritter, an anchor at ABC's New York station.
"We have a very strong group of men who you'll be seeing in the mornings playing a major role," Sherwood said. He said that Sawyer and Roberts have "terrific chemistry" and that viewers are accustomed to the duo because of Gibson's absences over the last year as a substitute anchor for "World News Tonight."
"No program can lose Charlie Gibson without feeling the effects," said ABC News President David Westin. "But we are going from three really strong anchors to two."
Gibson said he has mixed feelings about leaving "GMA," where he spent 19 years during two tours of duty. He recalled telling the staff yesterday that "nobody can really understand, unless they work for one of the morning programs, what the adversity of the hours does to you."
NBC executives, for their part, are waiting for another shoe to drop. "Charlie has been a large part of 'GMA's' success, no question about it," said NBC News President Steve Capus. "We feel terrific about the coming fall and welcoming Meredith to Matt's team. But," he said of the rival morning show, "I have a hunch they're not done."
