Sunday Morning Shootout

But how, Stephanopoulos pressed Gingrich, did that square "with what you were just saying earlier about the problems of debts and deficits?" Gingrich shifted gears, saying it would be better for the states to cut spending over time.

"George really drives the show," says Ian Cameron, the program's executive producer. "He's not an overbearing personality, but someone who gets to the point."

The Gingrich exchange reflects the program's new mix-and-match approach that adds politicians and business leaders to the traditional journalists' roundtable. Stephanopoulos, who has experimented with different formats, now believes it was a mistake to have temporarily dropped the roundtable in 2003. "If you get the right group together with diverse views, people who know what they're talking about and can do it in a lively manner, the roundtable takes off," he says. "It's not enough just to be glib."

"This Week" has added such corporate CEOs as Google's Eric Schmidt and FedEx's Fred Smith to the expanded roundtable segment, which features George Will and, at times, paid ABC contributors: Krugman, the Nobel-winning New York Times columnist; CNN's Donna Brazile; former Bush campaign pollster Matthew Dowd; and onetime Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke.

Gregory, searching for new journalistic voices, has booked 16 first-time guests, including the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, Fortune's Bethany McLean, National Review Editor Rich Lowry, Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel, Washington Post columnist Michelle Singletary and two panelists from NPR's "Planet Money."

Schieffer's signature is the folksy closing commentary, such as this one after the president's London visit: "Let me just say that personally I was okay with Michelle Obama touching the queen of England. . . . When we were invited to the British Embassy last year to see the visiting Elizabeth and Philip, my wife donned a hat as big as a washtub and we had a fine time."

After Schieffer repeatedly lobbied the White House, "Face the Nation" landed the first Sunday morning interview with President Obama since the inauguration. "I think if I could get that dog, we could probably draw a bigger audience," he jokes. The year's other big newsmaking interview, with Dick Cheney, was snagged by John King, the host of CNN's new "State of the Union." Wallace says he is handicapped by weak lead-ins on many Fox broadcast stations -- including a pair of televangelists in New York -- but draws 1.2 million viewers for replays on the Fox News Channel. He says he is doing newsmaking interviews "even with a Democratic administration" -- his is the only program not to land an interview with Obama since the election -- and taking a "fair and balanced" approach.

Wallace has, for instance, asked administration officials why the president has stopped using the "war on terror" term promoted by George W. Bush. "We ask different questions and approach subjects differently," Wallace says.

Sunday talk shows are less personality-driven than, say, the morning shows of Matt and Meredith and Diane. But who sits in the host's chair still matters more than the fact that, say, Wallace does a "power player of the week" or Stephanopoulos runs clips of late-night comics.

Some slippage was probably inevitable for Gregory, but he retains custody of one of the best brand names in journalism. Even when Schieffer had Obama last month, Gregory finished first in the ratings with an interview of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, who also appeared with Stephanopoulos. "The guys we're up against are good," Gregory says. "George and Bob have been doing this for a while. They're established. They're both first-rate journalists."

Jumping the Gun

An obvious attempt to get out in front of the flood of 100-day stories, starting with the New York Times:

"President Obama is well known for bold proposals that have raised expectations, but his administration has shown a tendency for compromise and caution, and even a willingness to capitulate on some early initiatives.