ABC's 'This Week' (American Idol Style)

Ever since George Stephanopoulos's departure from ABC's 'This Week', the program has been a stage for his replacement. No one has been named his successor, but several are in the running. So FishbowlDC has decided to turn this into an online reality show, get judges on board and turn each week into an American Idol-esque competition. 'This Week' (American Idol Style) begins today and lasts until a host is chosen. We can't vote anyone off the island. But like the American Idol judges, ours offer the contestants constructive criticism. Write us your comments at fishbowlDC@mediabistro.com and we'll post samplings (keep it clean and free of too much hate and we'll all have a good time here). Meet the Judges: 1. HuffPost's Jason Linkins, editor of "Eat the Press" who live blogs each Sunday about the political talk show circuit. 2. The Examiner's Yeas & Nays Columnists Nikki Schwab and Tara Palmeri. 3. Carol Joynt, the Washington columnist for New York Social Diary, was a producer for 'This Week' during the David Brinkley days. Sunday's 'This Week' host (this week): Terry Moran. Read the judgments after the jump... <img alt="moran_t.jpg" src="/fishbowlDC/files/original/moran_t.jpg" width="188" class="alignleft" hspace="3" vspace="3"/Jason Linkins: So, we changed our longstanding graphic for the liveblog that included George Stephanopoulos to David Gregory, Bob Schieffer, Chris Wallace and John Locke from LOST, because WHAT IS HAPPENING, ON THAT ISLAND? Everyone is going to get a shot at running the Dharma Initiative that is THIS WEEK. Terry, if you want to extend the LOST metaphoriana, you came off a bit like Jack Sheppard. You're pretty and comely and have pillowy lips that the ladies will love, and I can see you taking on a leadership position for a while. But, like Jack, man do you lose a hold on things once they start getting weird! Why on earth were you allowing Arnold Schwarzenegger to talk on and on and on about Lindsay Vonn, and the giant slalom, and then ancient empires and their aqueducts, for like, TWENTY MINUTES? I mean, look, I understand: YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MAN WHO STARRED IN ERASER. But it's your show, you gotta reign in Governor Jingle All The Way, or things are going to run right off the rails. Also: really? You are going to have a panel discussion on Tiger Woods? That's the best use of my boss' time? You could just hear everyone on the panel groan, with pure mountain-grown dismay, when they learned they were talking about that. George Wills' answer was the best: "UGH, JUST GO READ SALLY JENKINS' EXCELLENT SPORTSWRITING." Cosigned! Yeas & Nays: While Terry, you definitely have star power -- a youthful glow, engaging eyes, a vibrant smile and that mid-western, folksy flair (think ratings from that coveted middle America demographic) -- you need to work on reigning in boisterous guests and oh yea, less snorting. As the Governator got going, you allowed him to get out of control. Arnold Schwarzenneger used the segment to promote his work in California. But what about Ed Rendell? By the end, you forgot he was even there. What about the tough questions? Don't let your guests promote their personal political platform. Shouting over Schwarzennegger to redirect him didn't work either. You shined during the round table. With Donna Brazile in particular, you threw out an idea to her that you knew she would reject. Also, we heard you snort to a comment made by George Wills that wasn't funny. Snorting is cute, but distracting. At the end of the day, would we tune in to you? Yea. You will improve with time and we like your folksy charm. Carol Joynt: Terry, thank goodness for gentlemen. You are certainly that, and smart, and you've studied your notes, know the players and have the professional training for the job. But nice guys don't get ratings. This is a shark competition. Where's the killer? Now that we've seen your manners and brain, show us some razor edged teeth and blood lust.

Fishbowl

ABC's 'This Week' (American Idol Style)

Betsy Rothstein

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Betsy Rothstein