With George Stephanopoulos taking the reins back from Christiane Amanpour on “This Week,” ABC News is staging another renovation of the Sunday morning show.
Jon Banner, who oversaw the show from 2000 to 2003, will return, taking the place of Rick Kaplan. The new version of "This Week" debuts Jan. 8.
Banner, senior executive producer for “division wide initiatives,” will continue to oversee big projects for the network.
“Jon and George have a long history working together,” ABC News President Ben Sherwood said in a note to ABC News staff. “They share an editorial vision for the broadcast and when they teamed up last they steadily expanded the program's audience. As partners again, I am confident they will produce excellent results.”
Banner ran the nightly newscast “World News” for almost a decade. He took on his current role in September.
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Kaplan, who has had multiple stops at ABC and CBS as well as stints at CNN and MSNBC, just left CBS to return to ABC News in May.
He will remain with the network, overseeing ABC’s debate in New Hampshire Jan. 7. He will also “take on other big projects and continue to offer a critical voice in our news and election coverage,” according to Sherwood’s note.
Banner takes over a show that has struggled from a ratings perspective, often performing worse than both CBS' "Face the Nation" and NBC's "Meet the Press" in recent months.
Amanpour announced she was leaving the show earlier in December as she splits her time between ABC and CNN.
Stephanopoulos will now pull double duty between "This Week" and his co-hosting position at "Good Morning America," which by contrast has had a strong year of ratings.
