NEW YORK — Since the news broke last month that Diane Sawyer will be leaving ABC's "Good Morning America" to replace Charles Gibson on the network's flagship evening broadcast, female broadcasters such as Ashleigh Banfield and Suze Orman have eagerly volunteered to replace her.
But ABC executives are intent on finding a male anchor to pair with co-host Robin Roberts and restore the morning show's traditional male-female duo, according to multiple sources in and outside the network.
While the network has cast a wide net in its search for Sawyer's successor, it appears increasingly likely that the "GMA" co-host will be selected from within ABC's ranks, in part because contenders like CNN's Anderson Cooper are locked in long-term contracts. A short list of candidates is widely believed to include "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos, "World News Saturday" anchor David Muir, "GMA Weekend" co-host Bill Weir and "GMA" news anchor Chris Cuomo.
As a test run, Stephanopoulos is filling in for Sawyer for the rest of the week as executives seek to measure his chemistry with Roberts and his deftness in handling lighter fare. (Cuomo replaced Sawyer on Monday and Tuesday.)
The lack of a ready successor mystifies many ABC staffers who expressed bewilderment that executives did not have a plan in place for their most profitable program. But ABC's challenge in replacing Sawyer underscores how few superstars remain in an industry once dominated by high-wattage anchors tussling for coveted slots.
ABC News spokesman Jeffrey Schneider declined to comment on the search process, noting that news division president David Westin said he would make a decision by the end of the year.
"The names that are out there frankly are nothing more than speculation," he said. "We haven't made any decisions. This is a deliberate process. And while it may be hard for some people to understand that deliberate process, it is a process that has served us well in the past and we think we will serve us well now."
Gibson's decision to retire triggered a scramble at "GMA," where top producers learned that Sawyer would succeed him just a day before the news went public, according to their colleagues.
Her departure could deal a huge blow to the second-place morning show, which brings in the bulk of the revenue for ABC News -- $400 million out of a total of $700 million in 2008, according to calculations by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. Without Sawyer's star power behind them, producers fret that they will be unable to go head-to-head with NBC's "Today" in the race to book exclusives, the lifeblood of morning news.
