TVSpy
George Stephanopoulos made his debut as co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday morning. Stephanopoulos sat alongside “GMA” veteran Robin Roberts as she introduced him to the show, announcing, “It’s the dawn of a new day–new hopes, new dreams–and you can see a new ‘GMA’ co-anchor.” Stephanopoulos, wearing a bright orange tie, smiled and said, “It’s great to be here.”
Later on in the program, the four members of the new “GMA” lineup–Stephanopoulos, Roberts, as well as Sam Champion and new anchor JuJu Chang–sat down for an informal introduction to the show’s two new additions. Roberts asked Stephanopoulos about a personal detail that she dug up in a Google search–that he wrestled in high school. According to Stephanopoulos, he set his high school record for draws (in case you were wondering). This segued into a quick introduction to Chang, who has been with ABC since the early 90s, in which the new ‘GMA’ news anchor quipped that, with a house full of sons, she’s stuck breaking up wrestling matches all the time.
Stephanopoulos’s first show also provided him with an opportunity to display his skill at covering politics as he engaged White House senior adviser David Axelrod in an interview covering “fat cat bankers.” After being introduced, Axelrod started by alluding to Stephanopoulos’s time in the Clinton administration, saying that he currently works in the office that Stephanopoulos held at one time. Axelrod continued, referencing the last stop in Stephanopoulos’s career, ABC’s “This Week,” “It’s weird to talk to you on a Monday morning and not a Sunday morning,” he said. Stephanopoulos responded, Weird for me too.”