Sawyer Bids Teary Farewell on GMA

Personally, I'm going to miss Diane Sawyer....But we still have Robin....Let's see how it goes with the new addition. A Cruz

By Richard Huff
DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR

ABC/Diane Sawyer (r.) gets behind the 'Good Morning America' desk for one last time, alongside co-host Robin Robets.

Through a haze of tears and emotion, Diane Sawyer said farewell Friday to ABC's "Good Morning America."

"And for one more time, good morning America," Sawyer said at the top of the show, warning it would be a heavy Kleenex day.

"My heart is smiling," she said. "The privilege of sharing my mornings with all of you has been more than I can say."

"We will be smiling, we will be laughing," co-host Robin Roberts said at the top of the two-hour broadcast. "But, put on some waterproof mascara if you're at home, because we will share the joys of happiness and appreciation for the queen of morning television."

And so they went, honoring Sawyer's more-than-a-decade run on "GMA" with highlights ranging from serious interviews with world leaders to a clip of her slipping and falling in the snow with Charles Gibson.
Roberts joked that all morning Sawyer was in a fog, but added this was the day to be that way.

Sawyer is leaving "GMA" to become the anchor of ABC's "World News," where she's replacing Charles Gibson, who retires Dec. 18. She'll start Dec. 21. George Stephanopoulos will replace Sawyer starting Monday on "GMA."

Sawyer said early in the show that the crew had fun at her expense, too.

"One of our cameramen came in this morning looking for George Stephanopoulos," she said.

Much of the week has been a look back at Sawyer's stay on "GMA," which, when she started there, was supposed to be temporary. She estimated she's circled the globe 14 times since then.

Sawyer's eyes were filled with tears for much of the show, and at one point, the four on-air staffers - Sam Champion, Chris Cuomo, Sawyer and Roberts - all stopped for a group hug while tears flowed freely.

"Once again, we'll take a break and collect ourselves," Sawyer said at a different point after Stephanopoulos, and newly named news-reader Juju Chang joined the crew.

Perhaps fearing she wouldn't make it through without breaking down, Sawyer's biggest contribution to Friday's telecast, a highlight reel, was on tape.

"When you see that, you realize nobody does it better than Diane Sawyer," Champion said.

"That is humbling to watch for me as an interviewer," Cuomo said after a clip of Sawyer's big gets.
Cuomo is leaving the show, too, to become co-anchor of "20/20."

For the final hour, the studio was filled with show staffers, friends and well-wishers. The emotions were capped near the end, when the producers brought in 25 children whose parents were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Sawyer had followed the kids as infants.

Near the end, a clip played of staffers singing "Build Me Up Buttercup," one of Sawyer's favorites.

"Thank you for the wonderful memories, and love, and I know it will continue," Roberts said. "The best part of life is when your family become your friends and your friends become your family."

Tears in her eyes, Sawyer turned to the crowd before her.

"Can we have a giant group hug," Sawyer said, plunging herself into the crowd as the show ended.

Anchor Charlie Gibson Speaks Out

Charlie Gibson says on the record he has "tremendous respect and fondness" for Diane Sawyer, but insiders say he has trouble concealing his dislike of his ABC colleague.

"Charlie has always given Diane the stink eye. He bad-mouths her openly and often," said our source.

Gibson, 66, had been pushing ABC News president David Westin to promote George Stephanopoulos, the host of Sunday morning's "This Week," as his successor.

"He wanted George to get the job," said one source at the network. "He was shocked when he learned Diane got it, and he was really angry that she stole his thunder. As soon as she was named, it was all about Diane."

UPI

When it was announced on Sept. 2 that Gibson was retiring after four years in the evening anchor chair, the network could have waited to declare who'd get the job, just as it is waiting now to name Sawyer's replacement on "Good Morning America."

It is widely believed that Stephanopoulos will get the "GMA" spot, but Sawyer, 63, "doesn't want it announced until she is ensconced at 'World News,' " said our source.

"It's all bull[bleep.] They get along just fine," said an ABC spokeswoman. "They went to Walter Cronkite's funeral together. They had lunch last month."

Reached for comment, Gibson told Page Six: "This notion that there is some kind of enmity that exists between Diane and me is just silly. We worked together for over seven years, side-by-side . . . We laughed together, cried together (particularly during the time after 9/11), and developed a strong mutual bond.

"I have tremendous respect and fondness for Diane. Diane and I have talked a number of times about the transition and what this job entails. We're having lunch this week to continue the conversation."

That said, Diane might want to have someone test her food at that lunch, just to be on the safe side.