Diane Sawyer Leaving GMA This Week
After ten years on the show, Diane Sawyer has announced that this will be her last week on Good Morning America. “I’ve calculated — 2,881 shows,” Diane said this morning. “Roughly.” The 63 year-old who joined GMA in 1999 as what was then a temporary assignment will be moving to the anchor chair of World News Tonight on December 21, succeeding Charles Gibson, who will retire Dec. 18.
“I hope you celebrate with us this week, laugh with us this week,” Diane said.
“It is so difficult,” co-anchor Robin Roberts said today, calling Diane “my Thelma. Thank you, we are going to do all things just like you this week.”
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly appeared as a guest on the show today. His comment on Diane’s departure: ”just for getting up — you guys get a B+.”
The week will likely feature highlights from Diane’s career, including her 2006 interview from North Korea in which North Korean Gen. Ri Chan Bok warned that war was inevitable. And then of course there are some mistakes and lighter moments, including today’s video clip of Diane driving a car, taking red lights as “suggestions. She has her flaws – some of them, dangerous flaws,” joked co-anchor Chris Cuomo.
Diane’s move to World News means two of the three major evening network news broadcasts will be anchored by women for the first time in television history. Girl power!
