20/20 (US television series)

''20/20'' (stylized as ''20²⁰'') is an American television newsmagazine that has been broadcast on ABC since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge, the program was designed similarly to CBS's ''60 Minutes'' in that it features in-depth story packages, although it focuses more on human interest stories than international and political subjects. The program's name derives from the "20/20" measurement of visual acuity.

The two-hour-long program has been a staple on Friday evenings (currently airing at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone) for much of the time since it moved to that timeslot from Thursdays in September 1987, though special editions of the program occasionally air on other nights. For most of its history, it was led into by ABC's two-hour '' TGIF'' block of sitcoms.

Since 2019, it has shifted to a two-hour format highlighting true crime stories and celebrity scandals rather than the traditional investigative journalism associated with newsmagazines, following the same programming direction as same-night competitor ''Dateline NBC''.

History

The anchors on the premiere telecast of ''20/20'' were ''Esquire'' magazine editor Harold Hayes, who also served as the program's senior producer, and ''Time'' art critic Robert Hughes. The program's debut received largely harsh reviews; ''The New York Times'' described it as "dizzyingly absurd" and ''The Washington Post'' denounced it as "the trashiest stab at candycane journalism yet." In his autobiography ''Roone: A Memoir'', Roone Arledge recalled that probably the most embarrassing part of that initial program was the Claymation segments featuring caricatures representing then-President Jimmy Carter (singing " Georgia on My Mind") and Walter Cronkite (closing the program intoning, "That's the way it was"). As a result of the scathing reviews, serious and drastic changes were immediately made: Hayes and Hughes were fired (as was original executive producer Bob Shanks), and a then semi-retired Hugh Downs was recruited to take on the role of sole host on the following week's program.

Also featured in the premiere telecast of ''20/20'', the opening sequence consisted of a pair of eyeglasses, whose lenses showed colored bars, which are often seen in the SMPTE color bars (used when television stations were off the air between sign-off and sign-on). The eyeglasses were keyed over a yellow background, and rotated to its rear position to reveal the ''20/20'' studio.

With Downs hosting, ''20/20'' changed into a more standard yet unique newsmagazine and received kinder reviews from critics. The program was originally launched as a summer replacement series; it was then presented on a once-a-month basis during the 1978–79 television season, before being given a regular weekly timeslot on Thursdays at 10:00 pm. Eastern Time beginning May 31, 1979. Emmy Award-winning producer, Bernard I. Cohen began his career with ABC evening news in 1964. From 1979 to 1992, he was a lead Producer at 20/20 and helped solidify the program's top Nielsen Ratings. Ratings were generally very good during the summer months during its eight years on Thursday nights despite competition from ''Knots Landing'' on CBS and ''Hill Street Blues'' on NBC. It was around this time that the program started using the Brock Brower-written signoff line "We're in touch, so you be in touch" to end each program, which continues to be used to now (the program also used the line "Around the world and into your home, the stories that touch your life" as the introduction during the program's opening titles for much of the 1990s).

Barbara Walters joined the program in 1979 in a role something less than a co-anchor and soon became a regular special contributor in the fall of 1981. In 1984, she became Hugh Downs's equal, thus reuniting a duo which had already anchored together on NBC's ''Today'' from 1964 to 1971. The team would remain together on-air for the next 15 years.

In the fall of 1987, ''20/20'' was moved to Fridays at 10:00 pm. Eastern; while in that timeslot, it ranked at 21st place in the annual Nielsen ratings by the 1991–92 season. It aired in that same Friday time slot until the fall of 2001, when ABC briefly replaced the program with the scripted family drama series ''Once and Again'', only for ''20/20'' to return to the lineup again four months later; it has basically retained the timeslot ever since. While the program briefly moved to the 8:00 p.m. timeslot on October 12, 2007, it reverted to its usual time two weeks later.

In 1997, a second weekly edition of ''20/20'' made its debut on Thursday evenings. For a time from 1998 to 2000, ABC News chose to consolidate its newsmagazine programs by combining ''20/20'' and ''Primetime Live'' into a singular brand under the ''20/20'' name and format to compete with ''Dateline NBC'', which itself ran for four nights a week at the time (''Dateline'' has since been reduced to twice weekly airings). At its peak, ''20/20'' ran on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays, in addition to its longtime Friday timeslot; these additional nights of ''20/20'' were joined by the younger-skewing ''20/20 Downtown'' on Thursday nights. In 2000, ABC reinstated ''Primetime'' under the title ''Primetime Thursday'', and spun off ''20/20 Downtown'' as a separate newsmagazine simply titled ''Downtown''. By early 2002, ''20/20'' once again was airing only in its original Friday timeslot.

On March 3, 1999, Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern who was infamously revealed to have been involved in an affair with then-President Bill Clinton a few years earlier, was interviewed by Barbara Walters on the program; that particular edition of ''20/20'' was watched by an estimated 70 million viewers, which ABC stated was a record audience for a news program.

After Downs' retirement in 1999, Walters became the solo anchor of ''20/20''. This lasted until John Miller was hired as a permanent co-host of the program in 2002; Miller never got very comfortable in the anchor chair, and a year later, he jumped at the chance to rejoin law enforcement. For a few months in early 2003, Barbara Walters temporarily anchored solo again. However, in May of that year, John Stossel – an investigative correspondent for the program who was behind the controversial, though popular, "Give Me a Break" segments – was named as Walters' new co-anchor. As one of the first veteran anchors, Barbara Walters chose to go into semi-retirement as a broadcast journalist in 2004. However, she remained with ''20/20'' as a frequent contributor to the program. ABC News correspondent Elizabeth Vargas was promoted to the co-anchor position.

In September 2009, before the start of its 31st season, John Stossel announced he would leave the program after 28 years to pursue a new weekly show on Fox Business. Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer also contributed reports. On December 10, 2009, ABC News announced that ''Good Morning America'' news anchor Chris Cuomo was promoted to co-host ''20/20'' alongside Elizabeth Vargas. On January 29, 2013, it was announced that Chris Cuomo would leave ABC News and ''20/20'' for CNN to co-host the cable network's new morning news program, '' New Day''; on the same day, ABC announced David Muir would join Elizabeth Vargas as the new co-anchor of the program, in addition to continuing as weekend anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' (a role he retains after being appointed to main anchor of the since-renamed ''ABC World News Tonight'' in September 2014).

The program expanded once again on March 2, 2013, with the debut of ''20/20 Saturday'', which mainly features rebroadcasts of archived stories from previous editions of ''20/20'' (mainly those dating back as early as 2008) in the same single topic format as the flagship Friday broadcasts. ''20/20 Saturday'' airs outside of college football season, at either 9:00 p.m. as a two-hour broadcast formatted as separate hour-long episodes centered on two different topics or at 10:00 pm. Eastern Time as an hour-long broadcast, depending on the programs that precede it that given week. Barbara Walters originally served as host of the program until her retirement from regular television broadcasting in May 2014, after which the hosting duties were turned over the anchors of the Friday editions.

On December 22, 2017, Elizabeth Vargas announced that she would be leaving ''20/20'' and ABC News at the end of May. On April 23, 2018, Good Morning America news anchor Amy Robach was announced to take over as co-anchor alongside Muir in May.

''20/20 Downtown''

Unlike most other newsmagazines, ''20/20 Downtown'' was never carried by any big name anchor. An ensemble team of anchors fronted the broadcast, which was aimed at attracting younger viewers, but was hampered by many of the network's larger market network affiliate stations bumping the program to late night or weekend timeslots to accommodate local pre-game shows or coach's shows/highlight recap programming dealing with NFL or college football teams preceding ABC's ''Monday Night Football''. The anchor/reporting duties were filled by the team of Elizabeth Vargas, Cynthia McFadden, Chris Cuomo, Jay Schadler and John Quiñones. The program was renamed ''Downtown'' but was canceled in 2002. In 2003, the program returned for one season as ''Primetime Monday'', with the same anchors and format.

Special episodes

Even though ''20/20'' still occasionally uses a multiple topic format, the program has seen a gradual shift towards single topic editions since the late 2000s (similar to what has occurred with ''Dateline NBC'' since around the same timeframe, although continuing to include a wider range of topics), either in the form of various story packages that relate to the topic or a focus on a single story.

Theme music

The distinctive theme music to ''20/20'' was written by Robert Arnold Israel Sr. (who among other credits, also co-wrote theme music for now-cancelled fellow ABC series ''All My Children'' and ''One Life to Live'') and based upon the longtime Lillian Scheinert-written theme used for ''ABC World News Tonight''. The original theme was revamped around 1993, and was subsequently replaced in 1999, along with the ''20/20'' logo and the anchor desk on the program's set. Finally the orchestral ''20/20'' theme was updated in 2001, along with a few modifications in 2003 and 2005. In 2009, the theme was once again revamped, and once more in 2010, along with new graphics to reflect the news magazine's new darker tone; this new theme was written by DreamArtists Studios. In 2012 the theme was revamped, again arranged by DreamArtists Studios.

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Note: ''20/20'' has specials with other "on-air staff".

Anchors

* David Muir (2013–present)
* Amy Robach (2018–present)

Correspondents

* Juju Chang
* John Quiñones
* Deborah Roberts
* Brian Ross
* Diane Sawyer
* Jay Schadler

Former on-air staff

Anchors

* Harold Hayes (1978; deceased)
* Robert Hughes (1978; deceased)
* Hugh Downs (1978–1999; deceased)
* Barbara Walters (1979–2004, 2013–2014; retired)
* Diane Sawyer (1998–2000)
* Charles Gibson (1998–2000; retired)
* Sam Donaldson (1998–2000; retired)
* Connie Chung (1998–2000)
* John Miller (2002–2003)
* John Stossel (2003–2009)
* Elizabeth Vargas (2004–2018)
* Chris Cuomo (2009–2013)

Correspondents

* Martin Bashir
* Sylvia Chase (1978–1988; deceased)
* Catherine Crier
* Katie Couric
* Arnold Diaz (now at WPIX in New York City)
* Steve Fox
* Thomas Hoving (1978–1984; deceased)
* Tom Jarriel (1979–2002; retired)
* Dr. Tim Johnson
* Peter Lance
* John Laurence
* Dave Marash
* Cynthia McFadden (now at NBC News)
* Lisa McRee
* Perri Peltz (1998–2000)
* Stone Phillips (1986–1992)
* Bill Ritter
* Geraldo Rivera
* Carl Sagan
* Lynn Sherr (1986–2008)
* Sander Vanocur (1978–1991; deceased)
* Chris Wallace (now host of '' Fox News Sunday'')

Ratings

Syndication

True crime-focused episodes of the series air in first-run syndication on Oprah Winfrey Network and Investigation Discovery as ''20/20 on OWN/ID''.

International broadcasts

* ABC News programs, including ''20/20'', are shown daily on the 24-hour news network OSN News in MENA Region.
* In Singapore, the program airs on CNA.
* In Canada, it airs on CHCH-DT in Hamilton, CIIT-DT in Winnipeg and CHNU-DT in Vancouver, usually in simultaneous substitution with the ABC telecast.
* In Australia, it was previously regularly aired overnight on the Nine Network and Sky News Live (occasional notable episodes are still aired).
* In Hong Kong, the program airs at 9 p.m. every Sunday on ViuTVsix.

Local versions

* In the Republic of Ireland, an Irish version of ''20/20'' launched on TV3 in 1998. The show, which was canceled in 2002, used a mix of reports produced domestically and for the American edition.
* In New Zealand, TVNZ 1 airs an hour-long local version, featuring American-produced stories.

See also

* Throwaway Kids

References

External links

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