Amanpour Out, Former Clinton Staffer Back in at ABC's This Week

George Stephanopolous gets a return to the late David Brinkley’s old seat.

George Stephanopoulos is returning to Sunday mornings at ABC News, replacing Christiane Amanpour as host of the political talk show “This Week.”

ABC said Tuesday that Stephanopoulos, who returns Jan. 8, will remain as host of “Good Morning America,” although likely on a four-day schedule.

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Critics wondered from the start whether the Iranian-born Amanpour, a veteran foreign correspondent for CNN, was a good fit for a panel show dominated by American politics. It hasn’t budged from third place behind NBC’s “Meet the Press” and a resurgent “Face the Nation” on CBS, with the ABC show down 1 percent in ratings from last year.

Amanpour’s reporting connections in the Middle East served ABC News particularly well during the Arab spring, and she scored an exclusive interview with then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in February.

But the dawning of an American election year seemed to serve her competitors, old Washington hands Bob Schieffer at CBS and David Gregory at NBC, better.

And it served Clintonistas Stephanopolous and Chelsea Clinton, better than them.

Jake Tapper would have been a better choice if ABC wanted solid, fair reporting. Stephanopolous’ return makes for a more political choice.