Thursday, September 3, 2009

Charles Gibson


A planned blog on la Festa Italiana will be pushed back tomorrow so I can write about ABC World News anchor Charles Gibson.

As you likely heard by now, Gibson is retiring at the end of the year. Diane Sawyer takes over in January.

Let's attack this thing from a few different angles. We'll begin with Gibson's skills. He had that "approachable authority" thing going on. Serious, but friendly. Gravitas with warmth. It's too bad he didn't get the World News job sooner, but when Peter Jennings is around, you're going to have to play second fiddle.

Gibson co-hosted Good Morning America for 11 years, from 1987 to 1998. He was one of those people you took for granted-- solid and dependable, not flashy. I didn't appreciate Gibson until he left-- and he started doing some fill-in work on other broadcasts.

The man saved ABC News not once, but twice. He returned to GMA in 1999 to re-build the show after the Kevin Newman/Lisa McRee debacle. Gibson took over World News after the team chosen to replace Peter Jennings had some serious problems. Bob Woodruff was badly injured in Iraq. Elizabeth Vargas couldn't handle the broadcast on her own. The ratings slipped. Gibson provided some much needed stability and professionalism.

Diane Sawyer takes over post-Gibson. I'm okay with that. She's 63 and works as hard as someone one-third her age. I do have some concerns about the long term future of World News, but people above my pay grade will figure that one out.

As a morning person, I'm also concerned about what happens at GMA after Sawyer leaves. I'm trying to be kind here. The remaining cast of characters really doesn't that spark needed to draw a big crowd.

There's a lot of talent out there, and it will be interesting to see who ABC chooses to fill the void.