In 1960, ABC launched its first Sunday talk show
Issues and Answers, which featured policy discussions, prior to the age of political pundits dominating the talk shows. One of its early hosts was
Howard K. Smith, who also had his own prime-time
public affairs program
Howard K. Smith: News and Comment air on the network during the 1962–1963 season. Among the program's later hosts was
Bob Clark. On November 15, 1981,
David Brinkley came to the network from
NBC News and was given full responsibility for the show, which was relaunched as
This Week with a network time slot at 10:30 AM Eastern Time. During Brinkley's run, three major sponsors were part of the show:
General Electric (which departed after taking control on
NBC in 1987),
Archer Daniels Midland and
Merrill Lynch. On November 10, 1996, David Brinkley retired as host of
This Week but continued to appear on the program providing commentary segments until September 28, 1997. Following Brinkley's retirement, ABC News journalists
Sam Donaldson and
Cokie Roberts subsequently became co-hosts of
This Week. Since 1981, the names of the primary anchors have been included with the show's title, such as
This Week with David Brinkley and during this era, the program was billed as
This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts (or
This Week with Sam & Cokie).
George Stephanopoulos, who joined the panel in 1997, became the host of
This Week on September 15, 2002; he ended his first tenure with the program on January 10, 2010, shortly after being named the co-host of
Good Morning America. ABC News Senior White House Correspondent
Jake Tapper served as the interim anchor from March to July 2010. On April 20, 2008, production of
This Week relocated to the
Newseum in
Washington, D.C., in a studio that overlooks the
U.S. Capitol. In addition, the program began broadcasting in
high definition, becoming the first Sunday morning talk show to broadcast in HD. Following the transition, the program discontinued the segments
Images and
Voices. ABC and
This Week moved out of the Newseum in 2013 due to infrequent use of the studio and other facilities, with the former studio later being used for the Washington bureau of cable news channel
Al Jazeera America.
Christiane Amanpour, a longtime world affairs correspondent at
CNN, began as the program's host on August 1, 2010. During her first two months as host, the ratings for
This Week reached their lowest point since 2003. In December 2011, it was announced that Amanpour would step down as anchor of the program, while returning to CNN in turn. On January 5, 2012, ABC News announced that Stephanopoulos would return as the host of
This Week. With the return of Stephanopoulos as moderator, the program began using former
Good Morning America and
World News Tonight anchor
Charles Gibson to perform the voice-over heard during the opening of each broadcast; this lasted until 2014. In 2016,
Martha Raddatz was named co-anchor of
This Week, alternating each weekend with Stephanopoulos. On April 7, 2025, ''This Week's
New York–based editions moved to its new home in 7 Hudson Square sharing space with ABC World News Tonight, 20/20'', and special live event coverage for presidential elections, midterm elections, and other breaking news coverage. As of 2026, when Stephanopoulos is not available, Raddatz and
Jonathan Karl (who joined in 2021) alternate weekends hosting.
Ratings In February 2009, the ratings gap between
Meet the Press and its competitors –
This Week and CBS'
Face the Nation – began closing.
Meet the Press posted its lowest ratings since NBC News correspondent
David Gregory became moderator in early February of that year, with the February 1 telecast averaging just 3.9 million viewers.
Face the Nation averaged 3.33 million total viewers, while
This Week came in just behind with 3.32 million.
This Week beat
Meet the Press on January 11, when George Stephanopoulos interviewed President-Elect
Barack Obama. ==Key features==