Despite a rough start for George Stephanopolous, a few years into his stint as moderator of This Week he started finding his ways (and an audience). The graphics and theme for This Week have a distinctly fresh appearance, especially compared to its rival programs. The theme has the ABC News signature.

This is the variation of the ABC News Special Report theme that was occasionally used for ABC’s coverage of the war with Iraq. ABC made a couple of major blunders. On March 19th, the day President Bush’s deadline for Saddam expired, Peter Jennings was AWOL when the war began. He was reportedly at a dinner party. ABC News broke into regular programming later than the competition (some ABC affiliates broke in before the network), first with Chris Wallace anchoring and then a few embarrassing minutes later, Peter Jennings. But the network had told affiliates that their coverage would continue through the 11 pm hour; thus, the late local news would be scrapped. Many stations sent their crews home. A few minutes before 11 pm, however, ABC News decided to wrap up their coverage. They, however, failed to tell affiliates. So when Peter Jennings signed off for the night, affiliates were caught completely off guard. Many were left were with minutes of dead air only to put together a badly produced newscast. That does not happen often!

In 2002 George Stephanopolous was named moderator of This Week. Stephanopolous is a former Clinton communications aid who frequently helped prepare members of the Clinton administration for these Sunday morning public affairs programs. And considering the intense scrutinizing, an adequate preparation is a must for politicians coming on. Often the guests on these programs spend the better part of Saturday anticipating questions and thinking through answers. What distinguishes a good moderator is his ability to cut through the prepared material, and elicit statements that they weren’t prepared to make. This short lived theme was composed by Score Productions.

Unlike most other newsmagazine, 20/20 Downtown (or later just Downtown) was never carried by any big name anchor. An ensemble team of anchors fronted the broadcast, which was aimed at attracting younger viewers. The anchor and reporting duties were covered by the team of Elizabeth Vargas, Cynthia McFadden, Chris Cuomo, and John Quiñones. It was cancelled in 2002. For the theme ABC turned to Score Productions. This is the full theme. By the way, in 2003 Downtown returned for one season as Primetime Monday–same anchors, same format and same theme package (though slightly different cut).

In the fall of 2000 20/20 with Barbara Walters was given a musical makeover. For the past couple of years they had been using an update to the original 1979 theme but this time they started using something completely new. Although it includes some notes from the original, it is without a doubt more contemporary. Like the previous themes, this theme is composed by Score Productions.

“This is an ABC News Special Report.” This very dramatic piece of music is used whenever major news breaks. This is a great piece of music because it does not scream hype and sensationalism, while not downplaying the potential importance of the story. The music during a major news story of course plays only a secondary role. But based on the music, the audience will–rightfully–make assumptions about the coverage. This music gives a calm impression, which goes along well with the reporting styles of Peter Jennings and Charles Gibson.

Co-moderators Sam Donaldson, who previously was the in-house liberal, and Cokie Roberts, formerly a regular panelist, replaced David Brinkley. Sam and Cokie’s This Week, never really caught on however. After 15 years of Sunday morning dominance, the number one spot was relinquished to NBC’s Meet the Press with Tim Russert. Cokie and Sam were replaced in 2002 after falling behind CBS’ Face the Nation.

For the first time since 1978, ABC News used a different theme for its evening flagship broadcast, World News Tonight. It was not entirely new because this theme is certainly based on the previous theme. It was used for a short period of time in which NBC Nightly News overtook ABC in the ratings. In 1998 they brought back a version of their original theme, but have in later years attempted twice (2000, 2001) to replace the original theme with something different. This short-lived theme was brought back for the coverage of the political conventions of 2000.

Day One did not do too well in the ratings. Before they cancelled the program, ABC made one last attempt to save the program. They brought on board star anchor Diane Sawyer. When she debuted on the program, this theme, an update of the first theme, started being used. These slight changes could, however, not increase the ratings. Day One was soon afterward cancelled.

Face the Nation is one of the longest running programs on Television. At thirty minutes in length it is the shortest of the Sunday morning public affairs programs. In its long history, legends such as Howard K. Smith moderated the program. Currently the program is moderated by Bob Schieffer who is one of the few Washington journalists to have covered the White House, Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department (the big four Washington assignments). This theme is composed by Score Productions and was dropped in 2002.

Newsmagazines are like fashion items: one day they are hot; the next they aren’t. And when they are hot, there is no escaping them. They are all over the network schedules. Each network will stretch its news staff to the limits to create new “newsmags”. Life expectancy is short for most of them. Day One, which is such a failed newsmagazine, was created to fill a whole in the ABC schedule. True to tradition, the newsmagazine promised to be different. In this case, it was to feature softer content compared to the investigations and hard news on 20/20 and Prime Time Live. ABC News President Roone Arledge reveals in his book, Roone, that he thought Connie Chung would be a perfect fit as anchor. But that did not work out. Instead the low key but capable Forrest Sawyer served as sole anchor of the program.

Up to the Minute is CBS’ overnight newscast. It premiered in 1992 with Russ Mitchell and Monica Gayle as its first anchor team. Since 1998 Up to the Minute is fronted by a solo anchor. The program is more serious and less irreverent than its main competitor World News Now on ABC.

This 20/20 theme is an update of the original theme composed by Score Productions. In case you are wondering, 20/20 vision is normal vision and it is expressed as a fraction because the two numbers have different meanings. The top number means the distance you stand from the chart from which you are asked to read (usually 20 feet). And the bottom stands for the distance at which a person with normal eyesight could correctly read the line with the smallest letters. While it is rare, some people are blessed with even better eyesight. ABC decided to name its newsmagazine 20/20 to drive home the point that it would be a medium to help see viewers the events shaping their lives, clearly. The first executive producer, Bob Shanks, came up with the name.

ABC News (and Sports as well) has become famous for consistency with regard to its themes. It rarely replaces themes, except with a newly recorded (and usually slightly updated) version. This is also the case with this theme, which is a remake of the classic Viewpoint theme.

“From ABC News around the world and into your home, the stories that touch your life. With Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters, this is 20/20.” That’s how every edition of 20/20 in the 90′s started. For this version of the 20/20 theme, all whooshes and pows known to man were pulled out of the archives and used in this theme. Networks, generally speaking, have gone easy on sound effects but cable news has not. Almost all movements and transitions are accompanied by a woosh or other sound effect. That’s what gives it the cable news feel. Why do they do it? Cable news channels feel it makes them look and sound more exciting – like something big is going on – which keeps viewers tuned in.