20/20
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This Prime Time News series on ABC began in 1978. Longtime anchors Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters previously worked together on NBC's Today. Reporters on 20/20 have included John Stossel, Geraldo Rivera, Lynn Sherr, Bob Brown and the ever-popular Sylvia Chase. Began as a hard-news program but slowly devolved until it is now mainly a purveyor of Missing White Woman Syndrome stories, fawning celebrity profiles, and Barbara Walters interviews.
By the 2010s, the show only aired a handful of times a year.
Tropes featured include:
- Face Heel Turn: John Stossel. He started as the show's consumer advocate and evolved into a champion of corporations' rights. He went to Fox News when 20/20 went all-True Crime, all the time.
- Long Runner
- Missing White Woman Syndrome
- True Crime
- The World Is Just Awesome: those shows that are all celebrity profiles, and the People of the Year episodes.
- Yet Another Baby Panda: the real specialty of latter-day 20/20.