Amanpour Leaving ABC's This Week

Foreign correspondent is odd fit for DC-centric This Week

(NEWSER) - Christiane Amanpour isn't an obvious choice to host ABC’s Sunday gabfest This Week, but the network is confident in its choice. ABC says “Interviews and analysis about domestic politics and policies” will remain the show's focus, with the addition of an “international perspective.” Counting on a woman who speaks with an accent rather than a white male Washington insider to spearhead the change is a daring move, Michael Calderone writes for Politico . More»

Former CNN correspondent moves into ABC host chair

(NEWSER) - Christiane Amanpour made her much-debated move into the host's chair at ABC's This Week today, replacing George Stephanopoulos and a parade of interim fill-ins, and critics agree: The show feels essentially the same.

• Besides some cosmetic tweaking, the highest-profile change was "a new face who fit with Amanpour's goal of giving the show a more outside-the-beltway feel: from Madrid, Amanpour welcomed Ahmed Rashid, who was billed as 'the world authority on the Taliban,'" Chris Ariens blogs for TVNewser .

Or is she too Persian?

(NEWSER) - The controversy about Christiane Amanpour taking over ABC's This Week shows people can't deal with a brunette anchorwoman in a sea of blondes, Alex Pareene writes in Gawker . Washington Post critic Tom Shales has been cracking jokes about Amanpour's bad hair. Pareene retorts that it "seems pretty normal—besides, you know, not being blonde." And then there are Shales' "over the line" attacks on Amanpour for being half-Persian. More»

CNN correspondent switches networks

(NEWSER) - Christiane Amanpour has struck a deal with ABC News to become the new host of This Week in August. Though the CNN foreign correspondent is known for her international reporting, an ABC staffer says Amanpour feels confident about switching to domestic political reporting. She replaces George Stephanopoulos on the Sunday show, notes Talking Points Memo . More»

Scarborough cancels on Stephanopoulos

(NEWSER) - The highbrow news shows are seeing a little soap-opera drama—and a good old-fashioned hissy fit: MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had to cancel an appearance on George Stephanopoulos' This Week on ABC, reports the New York Post. "I'm terribly sorry," he told Stephanopoulos, "but David Gregory had a fit." Gregory hosts NBC's Meet the Press, and apparently objected to a corporate sibling appearing on a rival Sunday talk show. More»