David Muir and Deborah Roberts' newsmagazine show 20/20 continues to thrive amid major shifts for ABC News, which recently laid off a large chunk of its staff.
Several members of the show GMA3: What You Need to Know were let go amid the network's recent reshuffling, which also includes a move to a new office space.
ABC News is in the process of moving from its famed Upper West Side offices, which they held for nearly five decades, to swanky new studio spaces in Hudson Square near SoHo.
While World News Tonight with David Muir remains the nation's top evening news broadcast, the network is looking to expand the weekly newsmagazine program hosted by David and Deborah, which returned for a new season earlier this month.
Liz Alesse, VP of audio for ABC News, shared with The Hollywood Reporter that as part of a new pivot in their audio and podcast strategy, they will be launching a true crime podcast that serves as an off-shoot to 20/20.
"True crime resonates, and the audience just seems to have an appetite that knows no ends," she told the publication, titled 20/20: The After Show. It will be hosted by Deborah and will serve as a companion piece to the main newsmagazine and take listeners behind the scenes of the episode.
© Getty ImagesThe move to more true crime content will also include other podcast launches, including a special centering around Sean "Diddy" Combs which aired last year on 20/20 during his arrest, and will return with twice-weekly updates when his trial begins.
"We see two opportunities here as a news organization," Liz continued. "Our narrative approach is going to be a marriage of zeitgeist, real time true crime like Diddy, but also exploring stories that have already sort of come to a natural conclusion that exists within our archive."
"So as a news organization, we have the opportunity to stay on the news, to be timely, relevant, resonate and be one step ahead on the stories that people are currently talking about, but we also have this rich archive where we can introduce audiences to stories that might not be as front and center to them."
She added: "These are stories that are going to be very well told, and they are going to be told with authenticity and trust at the forefront of how we do it."
© Instagram"That coupled with our resources, because we're telling these stories and we're reporting out these stories as part of our mandate as a news organization, because we have this archive, I think it just gives us a natural advantage in the space, and so we're able to give this this audience with this voracious appetite more of what it wants in a responsible way and tell these really compelling stories and deliver on that demand."
20/20 first started airing in 1978 and has released 47 seasons with over 500 episodes. David was named the anchor in 2013, originally co-hosting with Elizabeth Vargas.
© InstagramIn 2018, Amy Robach stepped in as the co-anchor, a role she held until 2022, when she was let go from ABC News over the highly public nature of her romance with T.J. Holmes. Deborah, then a contributing anchor, was officially named co-host in 2023.
