NEW
YORK — Barbara Walters' decision
to step away from "20/20" promises a new pecking order in the
competition she's dominated for decades - for prime-time, celebrity TV
interviews.
Starting in September, Walters will no
longer be co-host of ABC's "20/20," the newsmagazine she's called home
since 1979.
Walters, 74, will do about six interview specials a year for ABC
News, including her annual pre-Oscar show. She'll also stay as
executive producer and occasional co-host of "The View," the daytime
talk show she created.
"Because there are so many shows on and because I've been so
hands-on - I've had a piece on almost every single week - I don't know
how to cut back on that," she said Monday. "You really can't."
ABC hasn't publicly discussed a replacement; Elizabeth Vargas
would be one obvious possibility. John Stossel is Walters'
current co-host.
A Barbara Walters interview, often done with a soft-focus camera
and subjects who break into tears, is as much a part of television
news lore as Mike Wallace inducing someone to sweat on "60 Minutes."
The bagging of a big celebrity interview has become an increasingly
important attention-getting device for newsmagazines, which have faded
somewhat in influence with the popularity of reality TV.
Walters isn't unbeatable, but she's known as a relentless
competitor and is often the first interviewer a celebrity considers
for a prime-time Q-and-A. During the past year, she spoke to a
post-indictment Martha Stewart and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Her March 1999 interview with Monica Lewinsky drew a
staggering 48.5 million viewers.
At ABC, Walters' decision clears a path for her chief in-house
competitor, Diane Sawyer, who was the sounding board for last
week's prime-time appearance by Howard Dean and his wife.
Robin Roberts and Lara Spencer of "Good Morning
America" may also pick up some of the slack at ABC.
ABC might fiddle with the format of "20/20" to make it less
dependent on big interviews.
"I'd be less than honest if I didn't confess to a moment or two of
concern over losing Barbara Walters' weekly presence on one of our
most important programs," ABC News President David Westin said in a
memo to his staff.
But he said he's confident in Walters' judgment and the program's
strength.
Walters said she's known for about a year she wanted to step down,
but waited for the right time to announce so the news wouldn't detract
from her Clinton and Stewart interviews.
"20/20" is averaging just under 10 million viewers a week this
season, up from 8.8 million last year.
"'I wanted to leave when '20/20' was very strong and, truthfully, I
wanted to walk away on the top," she said.
Walters was co-host of NBC's "Today" show for 13 years before
joining ABC News in 1976, where she was the first woman to anchor a
network evening newscast.
Walters said she's felt the pressure in recent years from
television's ardent pursuit of the 18-to-49-year-old demographic,
which means a greater push for interviews with entertainers popular
with younger viewers.
But it's not her reason for leaving the newsmagazine, she said.
"It's not because the audience is younger," she said. "It's not
because there's more competition and it's not because I can't do the
head of state from - I don't know - Pakistan. I really wanted to have
more flexibility in my life and this gives me everything I could
possibly want."