News Anchors Who Disappeared From Good Morning America

"Good Morning America" — more commonly known as "GMA" in recent years — is a very different show today than the original iteration that first greeted viewers back in 1975. At the time, NBC's "Today" dominated morning airwaves among television's three networks. CBS struggled to keep up, with its competing morning show at a distant second, while ABC didn't even bother. When ABC affiliates began grumbling to the network, threatening to switch to NBC or CBS, the network quickly cobbled together a morning show. Debuting in January 1975, the result was "A.M. America" — and it was no less than a televised train wreck. "It was the guinea pig on which everything that could go wrong, did," the show's co-host, Stephanie Edwards, explained, as reported by CNN.

The experiment was eventually halted, and later that year another attempt was made, with actor David Hartman tapped as host. Hartman was known to TV viewers as the titular schoolteacher in the NBC drama "Lucas Tanner," but quickly carved out a niche as an anchor of the retitled "Good Morning America," conceived to compete against "Today" by offering viewers a more entertaining and less newsy alternative.

The show proved to be a hit with viewers, and eventually became a cornerstone of ABC's daytime programming lineup. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, there have been a lot of faces that have come and gone over the years. To find out more, read on for a look back at some news anchors who disappeared from "Good Morning America."

Unlike "Today," which fell under the auspices of NBC News, "Good Morning America" was produced by ABC's entertainment division. This reportedly rankled the network's journalists, who were aghast that David Hartman — an actor with no journalistic experience — was the show's lead anchor. That, however, was the point. "But he was asking the questions the viewers would have asked, not the questions TV newsmen ask to show off how much they know," the show's producer, George Merlis, told CNN.

ABC doubled down on that strategy by hiring Nancy Dussault as co-anchor. Dussault's background was musical theater, not news (she had earned a Tony nomination in the early 1960s for "The Sound of Music"). Looking back on the experience decades later, Dussault recalled how quickly it all came together. "I sure didn't have a lot of preparation," she said in a 2015 interview with Palm Springs Life. "It was the first time they hired people not in the news and it was a big deal," she added, revealing that the network wanted anchors who were likable and relatable to viewers, regardless of journalistic credibility.

As CNN noted, Dussault was not a good fit with the show, and was fired after just a few months. She went on to return to her roots as an actor and singer, co-starring with Ted Knight in the sitcom "Too Close for Comfort," which ran from 1980 until 1987.

After Nancy Dussault's exit, local L.A. news anchor Sandy Hill was hired in 1977 as her replacement. As Hill told The Associated Press, she hadn't actually seen ABC's new morning show because she'd been busy anchoring her own 7 a.m. news broadcast. "But it is my understanding they've made a solid commitment to a more news-oriented program," she said, "and I hope their decision to go with me means they're re-emphasizing their commitment to news." "GMA" staffers didn't immediately warm to Hill. "The staff loved, loved, loved Nancy, so they were indisposed to like her replacement," former "GMA" producer George Merlis told CNN. While Hill eventually became admired and respected by her co-workers, she never managed to get along with the show's lead anchor, David Hartman.

As People reported, Hill's insistence that the show needed her journalistic cred tended to tick off Hartman, who felt that he was holding his own against legitimate journalists such as "Today" anchor Tom Brokaw — despite no prior experience as a reporter. Meanwhile, gossip columnist Rona Barrett — who had been a frequent "Good Morning America" guest during Hill's tenure on the show — offered another theory for why Hill and Hartman clashed. "David had a problem with strong women," she told the magazine.

Hill eventually had enough, and exited "GMA" in 1980. She was replaced by Joan Lunden. Hill went on to become anchor of the nightly newscast for Los Angeles CBS affiliate KCBS.

For more than a decade, David Hartman was synonymous with "Good Morning America," where he interviewed luminaries ranging from movie stars to presidents, raking in a hefty salary of $2 million per year. In 1987, he felt he'd been anchoring "GMA" for long enough, and decided to walk away. "After 11 years it's time to move on," Hartman said in a statement, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, revealing that he'd reached a "turning point." 

Interviewed by The New York Times in 1995, Hartman denied rumors that his departure was due to salary negotiations, or budgetary restrictions imposed by ABC's new owner, Capital Cities. "They thought I was negotiating when I said I was leaving and they offered more money, but it wasn't that," he explained.

According to Hartman, the real reason was that he'd come to a crossroads, facing a difficult choice between an all-consuming job he loved and his other role, as husband and father of four young children. "It's a great job if you're single or hate your family, because you're not around much," Hartman joked of his "GMA" gig. "I realized that if I was really going to have any balance between work and family, I'd have to leave ... I've talked to many of my contemporaries in the business who realized in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, 'Oops, I missed my kids.' That stuck in the back of my mind."

Joan Lunden was the "Good Morning America" consumer reporter when she was hired to replace Sandy Hill as co-host in 1980. When she renegotiated her contract in 1986, Lunden was adamant that she be given the official title as co-host, along with more on-air opportunities that would allow her to step out from under David Hartman's shadow. "I told them, 'This is an unmakeable deal without the co-host title,'" Lunden told People. "I'm satisfied that this means a full-fledged equal partnership."

After David Hartman's exit, Lunden was partnered with a new co-host, Charles Gibson, with the pair leading the show together for the next decade. Lunden left "GMA" in 1997, ostensibly to spend more time with her young children. Years later, however, she revealed that the decision to leave the show wasn't hers, claiming she was pushed out because of ageism. Appearing on "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" she recalled an awkward conversation with network executives. "The words are, 'We've decided to make a change on the show,' and so they found a 30-year-old version of me," Lunden said, referring to her replacement, Lisa McRee.

"I mean, I was 47 years old. That's not old. They don't push men out because they're 47," Lunden reflected in an interview with Yahoo! Life. "I don't look back. I'm not the kind of person that looks back."

Television journalist Paula Zahn was hired by ABC in 1987. Among her roles at the network was serving as news anchor on "Good Morning America." Zahn didn't stick around for that long; at the end of a February 1990 broadcast, she told viewers that she was leaving ABC for CBS — with her announcement reportedly taking both networks by surprise. "We wish her all the best in her new assignment," ABC News president Roone Arledge said in a brief statement to the Los Angeles Times.

Zahn wound up with a bigger job on a competing morning show, co-hosting "CBS This Morning" alongside Harry Smith. Meanwhile, additional responsibilities at her new home included anchoring the Saturday edition of "CBS Evening News." The scenario that Zahn stepped into, however, was a complicated one, given that she was replacing ousted co-host Kathleen Sullivan — let go due to the show's slumping ratings. "It's as if you're thrown into some kind of crash marriage," Zahn explained in a 1990 interview with the Los Angeles Times. "You spend a lot of time around each other."

Zahn exited CBS in 1999 for Fox News, before making her CNN debut on a historic day: September 11, 2001. She parted ways with the network in 2007, and briefly hosted a show for PBS. before winding up on Investigation Discovery. In 2024, her true crime series, "On the Case with Paula Zahn," was renewed for its 27th season.

Original "Good Morning America" host David Hartman left some big shoes to fill. For his replacement, ABC plucked veteran journalist Charles Gibson from the network's news division. Partnered with Joan Lunden, Charles went on to co-anchor the show for nearly two decades before his "GMA" run ended in 2006 (save for several months when he left the show in 1998 before returning in 1999). "For 19 years my mornings have not just been good. They've been great," an emotional Charles said during his final broadcast, via Today.

Charles may have left "GMA," but he didn't leave the network, becoming anchor of "ABC World News." He retired in 2009. "It has not been an easy decision to make," Charles wrote in a statement. "This has been my professional home for almost 35 years. And I love this news department, and all who work in it, to the depths of my soul."

Upon retiring, Charles pretty much vanished from the public eye for the next decade or so, until re-emerging in 2022 with a new podcast, "Book Case." Co-hosting with his daughter Kate Gibson, the two interviewed authors of popular books, with a goal of encouraging reading. Speaking with The Associated Press, Charles admitted that he wasn't a regular viewer of "GMA." "It's hard to watch because you know a lot about what is going on behind the scenes," he said. "It's better to be gone, and I have enjoyed retirement immensely."

In March 1998, about six months after Joan Lunden's exit, Charles Gibson left "Good Morning America." He was replaced by Kevin Newman, teaming with co-anchor Lisa McRee, who'd joined the show the previous year. Ratings took a nosedive; in January 1999, ABC lured Gibson back. Ditching Newman and McRee, Gibson was partnered with Diane Sawyer, who maintained her existing role on ABC's "20/20." At the time, Sawyer told The New York Times that she envisioned sticking with "GMA" for just a few months.

In 2011, Newman looked back at his brief "GMA" experience in a piece he wrote for Canadian news magazine Maclean's. "It was quickly apparent my co-host, Texan Lisa McRee, and I were struggling to develop the illusive chemistry of morning-TV news," he recalled. He was fired the same way he was hired: via a brief phone call. "It took me years to repair what nine months as 'GMA”s male co-host did to my confidence and career," he wrote, noting that his brief tenure on the show had seemingly been scrubbed. "When 'GMA' celebrated its 35th anniversary last year, Lisa and I were nowhere to be found in its official history," he observed. "We never happened."

Newman wound up returning to his native Canada, where he spent a decade as anchor of "Global National," a national news broadcast for the country's Global TV network. He's also held various anchor roles at rival Canadian network CTV.

When Kevin Newman was fired from "Good Morning America" to make way for the on-air team of Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer, so was his co-anchor, Lisa McRee. McRee had been hired in 1997 as Joan Lunden's replacement, having previously been a news anchor for KABC in Los Angeles. "I would never want to try to emulate someone, I don't think it's fair," McRee said of comparisons to her predecessor in an interview with Knight-Ridder News Service.

After her unceremonious exit from "GMA," McRee went on to host "California Connected," for Los Angeles-based PBS station KCET, which ran from 2003 until 2007. In 2018, McRee was among the journalists hired by Spectrum Networks for its news programming serving Southern California viewers. She was partnered with fellow journalist Giselle Fernandez to host "The Beat on 1," a five-days-a-week morning newscast. In addition, McRee was also tapped to host an evening news magazine show for Spectrum, airing Mondays to Thursdays. 

When Charles Gibson retired from "ABC World News" in 2009, ABC News executives didn't have far to look when seeking his replacement. Gibson's longtime "Good Morning America" co-anchor Diane Sawyer became his successor on the network's flagship news broadcast. After nearly 3,000 episodes of "Good Morning America," Sawyer bid farewell to viewers in her final episode. "I'm going to try to take the advice of that immortal philosopher, Dr. Seuss, who said, 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.' And this morning I am beaming at all of you. My heart is smiling. And the privilege of sharing my mornings with all of you has been more than I can say," she said, as reported by ABC News. "I've circled the globe 14 times," she added, noting that she'd journeyed to 22 countries on five different continents during her years on "GMA."

Sawyer anchored "ABC World News" until 2014, when she stepped down to hand the reins to incoming anchor David Muir. "After wonderful years at 'World News' I decided it is time to move to a new full-time role at ABC News," said Sawyer in a statement, reported by Time. "I can't wait to continue bringing more of my specials to prime time and appearing on all ABC News broadcasts, as well."

Since then, Sawyer has remained with ABC, conducting numerous high-profile interviews with public figures like Matthew Perry, Caitlyn Jenner, and Jeremy Renner. 

Diane Sawyer's 2009 exit from "Good Morning America" led to a shakeup with the show's on-air crew. George Stephanopoulos was named new anchor, helming the show alongside Robin Roberts. In addition, ABC News announced that Chris Cuomo, who'd been serving as the "GMA" news anchor since 2006, had been "promoted" to "20/20." "It is a dream job for a journalist like me, but it was also a very difficult decision, because I am leaving a special place and crew and all of you and you are all part of my family," he told "Good Morning America" viewers.

Despite the purported promotion, Chris had reportedly been vying for the anchor spot that went to Stephanopoulos, and in 2013 he jumped ship from ABC to CNN. "This is a fantastic opportunity to do what I value the most and hopefully to do the work that I do best," Chris said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "While it's very difficult to leave ABC News, a place filled with people I have loved working with for many years, I am excited about my future with CNN."

The former CNN employee hosted "Cuomo Prime Time" until being fired in 2021 after an investigation confirmed that he'd breached journalistic ethics by helping his brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, respond to claims of sexual harassment. Chris Cuomo mounted a TV comeback when he was subsequently hired as an anchor for News Nation.

In 2020, T.J. Holmes joined Amy Robach as co-anchor of the third hour of "Good Morning America," dubbed "GMA3." In November 2022, the Daily Mail published a series of scandalous photos of the pair, including one in which Holmes is seen fondling Robach's behind. The outlet reported that the co-anchors were having an affair; inconveniently, Holmes was married to immigration lawyer Marilee Fiebig, while Robach was married to "Melrose Place" alum Andrew Shue.

Robach and Holmes split from their respective spouses, and were suspended by ABC. They eventually parted ways with the network permanently. "After several productive conversations with Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes, about different options, we all agreed it's best for everyone that they move on from ABC News," an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

In late 2023, the couple launched their own podcast "Amy & T.J." In the podcast's debut episode, Holmes offered his take on what listeners could expect from the podcast. "The best way to sum us up, 'Amy and T.J.,' is that we're the folks who lost the jobs we love because we love each other," he said, via Variety. While Robach admitted the couple had "gone through a year of hell" since being fired from "GMA," she also claimed to be in a good place together. "We have fought for love, and I can say I have never been happier," she said. "I am with my best friend."