"20/20" (1978) TV series 1978-????

Creator:

Roone Arledge

Seasons:

unknown

Release Date:

6 June 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary | News

Plot:

ABC's original hour-long news magazine.

Plot Keywords:

Newsmagazine | Reenactment | Number In Title

Awards:

22 wins & 16 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Tue. Dec. 29	10:00 PM	ABC
Fri. Jan. 1	10:00 PM	ABC

Cast

Elizabeth Vargas	...	Herself - Host / ... (6 episodes, 2004-2009)
Matthew T. Johnston	...	Himself (4 episodes, 2007)
Barbara Walters	...	Herself - Anchor / ... (3 episodes, 1984-2009)
Diane Sawyer	...	Herself - Contributing Anchor (2 episodes, 1998-2009)
Hugh Downs	...	Himself / ... (2 episodes, 1978-1999)
Geraldo Rivera	...	Himself / ... (2 episodes, 1978-1985)
Sylvia Chase	...	Herself / ... (2 episodes, 1978-1980)
Liza Minnelli	...	Herself (2 episodes, 1980-1999)
Patty Duke	...	Herself (2 episodes, 1989-2004)
Christopher Chacon		(2 episodes, 1991-1993)
Mariah Carey	...	Herself (2 episodes, 1998-2002)
John Stossel	...	Himself / ... (2 episodes, 2003-2009)
Fantasia Barrino	...	Herself (2 episodes, 2004-2005)
Jim Avila	...	Himself - correspondent (2 episodes, 2005-2007)
JuJu Chang	...	Herself / ... (2 episodes, 2006-2009)

Also Known As:

ABC News 20/20 (USA) (informal title)

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG

Company:

ABC News

Trivia:

In 1998, ABC News combined "20/20" with "Primetime Live" (1989) to compete with "Dateline NBC" (1992) which aired four days a week at the time. The new editions were called "20/20 Monday", "20/20 Wednesday", "20/20 Friday", "20/20 Sunday", and _"20/20 Downtown" (2000)_. In 2000, ABC News returned "20/20" and "Primetime" to their original forms but kept "20/20 Downtown" as a spin-off.

Quotes:

Himself - Co-Anchor: I'm Hugh Downs
Herself - Correspondent: And I'm Barbra Walters and this is 20/20.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Saturday Night Live: Andy Roddick/Dave Matthews (#29.5)" (2003)

Trashy sensationalism disguised as hard-hitting journalism.

Since this 60 MINUTES ripoff has been around for twenty five years, it must have had *some* credibility at one time. However, any integrity that the series once had has withered away and died within the past decade. Now, rather than being a true "television news magazine", 20/20 presents itself as a laughable cross between "Hard Copy" and "Entertainment Tonight" that is simply impossible to take seriously. Instead of actually reporting facts which might be of relative importance to the American people, ABC's weekly program picks and chooses whatever brainless drivel will rake in the most ratings, regardless of whether or not it should actually be deemed "news". The result is an hour-long circus of the latest scandals involving forgotten celebrity wash-ups, "what you don't know could kill you" scare stories involving common household products, and short capsule-reports of current political events told with an undeniable right-wing bias.