ABC’s overnight show “World News Now” turns 19 this week, and is moving into a new studio.

There have been many great anchors on the broadcast throughout the years — including Aaron Brown, Lisa Mcree, Ryan Owens, Anderson Cooper, and Juju Chang.

An ABC spokesperson tells TVNewser that the show debuted a new set, and “World News Now”’s sister program, “America This Morning,” will debut its upgraded new look soon.

A look back at the show over its 19 years is after the jump…
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Daily Beast’s Rebecca Dana writes today about ABC News’ crew of male “talent” covering the oil spill in the gulf:

This summer, the network has sent a boy band’s assemblage of bright-eyed, sharp-tongued correspondents to the Gulf Coast, where they’ve broken news, landed big-get interviews and done it all in impossibly tight T-shirts. Other outlets fielded their own formidable crews to cover the oil spill, but only ABC fielded a lacrosse team.

Based on this TVNewser collage, that could be hard to argue:

Dana singles out David Muir, Matt Gutman, Jeffrey Kofman, Ryan Owens, Sam Champion and Chris Cuomo, but what about the men from other networks that got left out?

After the jump, see the other male correspondents and anchors rocking the smoldering GQ look.

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As Tropical Storm Alex is on the verge of being upgraded to a Hurricane, the networks are stationing crews along the Texas gulf coast. ABC’s Ryan Owens is positioned in South Padre Island. Don Teague will be covering for CBS News and NBC News has the resources of The Weather Channel, which is co-owned by NBCU and private equity firms Blackstone Group and Bain Capital.

CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC will all be covering President Obama’s 1 p.m. news conference addressing the oil spill situation in the Gulf of Mexico.

NBC has Brian Williams anchoring, CBS has Katie Couric Harry Smith anchoring and ABC has George Stephanopoulos anchoring, with contributions from Jake Tapper and Ryan Owens.

Friday morning on World News Now (yes, you’ll either have to stay up really late, or wake up really early) the show will say goodbye to Peter Grimm who has been World News Now’s stage manager for the past 17 years.

Grimm, who we hear will sleep in until Noon on Monday, has been floor director with virtually every host in the early morning show’s eclectic anchor history. And as a tribute 21 of them will wish him off. That includes Ryan Owens 2007-2008, David Muir 2003-2004, Tamala Edwards 2003-2005, Alison Stewart 2000-2002, Liz Cho 2002-2003, Kevin Newman 1994-1996, Thalia Assuras 1993-1997, Bill Greenwood & Sheilah Kast 1993-1996, Derek McGinty 2001-2003, Asha Blake (pictured with Grimm) 1997-1998, Heather Cabot 2005, Ron Corning 2004-2006, Mark Mullen 1996-1998, Anderson Cooper 1999-2000, Andrea Stassou 2003, Taina Hernandez 2005-2007, Hari Sreenivasan 2006-2007, Melinda Wittstock 1998 and Juju Chang 1999-2000.

Also, Barry Mitchell will be in to do a special live polka for Peter, with the original “Mitchellettes” his back-up singers on the first WNN polka back in 1993. Set your DVRs kids! Or look for video tomorrow, which will include a certain creator of the show who has gone on to bigger, magic-er things at another network.

• Video after the jump…

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Brian Rooney, his father Andy Rooney and sister Emily Rooney in a LIFE magazine story from the Spring of 1993.

When you mess with one Rooney, you mess with them all.

Ergo, when veteran correspondent Brian Rooney becomes a victim of ABC News’ slash-and-burn cuts, the whole family fumes.

“Maybe ABC is in bigger trouble than we know,” says his father, “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney, 91. “It seems unfair. They should have more concern for their own employees, and find a way to keep the ones who have been there a long while.”

Brian Rooney, 58, an L.A.-based staffer for 22 years, was told last month that his contract, which expires April 30, would not be renewed.

Sister Emily Rooney, dumped by ABC in 1994 after a hiccup as executive producer of Peter Jennings‘ “World News Tonight”, says her kid brother was shafted.

“He’s been a loyal foot soldier, not one of the stars,” opines Rooney, 60, a producer at Boston’s WGBH. “He’s gone into war zones, covered wildfires, flown around the country in rickety airplanes. He’s put himself in harm’s way.

“For him to be given the brush-off like that is stunning.”

For his part, Brian Rooney is trying to choose his words carefully. The Rooneys “are kind of a hard bunch” when it comes to overt displays of emotion, he says, but this time is an exception to the rule.

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Contrary to the gladiator’s code, those at ABC News who are about to die are not saluting the emperor.

With a staff reduction of up to 25 percent looming, many of the troops are unhappy that news division chief David Westin last week signed expensive outsider Christiane Amanpour to anchor “This Week”. The CNN star begins in August.

“In general, people are too demoralized to care,” says a veteran ABC correspondent, speaking on condition of anonymity because he may be among those laid off if there aren’t enough voluntary buyouts.

“The appointment of Amanpour is a sideshow,” he continues. “The future of a Sunday morning talk show is trivial to people who believe they have no future at ABC News.”

It’s not personal. No one disputes Amanpour’s enormous talent, impeccable credentials or suitability for the job.

What hurts those whose jobs are on the bubble is the appearance that ABC is robbing Peter (them) to pay Paul (Fill in any big name here. It happens to be Amanpour).

“While we are all deeply mindful of the transformation taking place at ABC News, the hiring of Christiane speaks directly to our commitment to serious journalism and serious journalists,” says a network spokesman.

“The opportunity to hire Christiane Amanpour doesn’t come along often, if ever, and we couldn’t be happier.”

Meanwhile, some staffers are learning through re-defined job postings – for cheaper, jack-of-all-trades “backpack journalists” – that they will probably be losing their jobs.

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“World News with Charles Gibson” will air a special one-hour edition tonight focused on yesterday’s massacre at Fort Hood.

Bob Woodruff, Terry Moran and Ryan Owens will report from Texas on the investigation, the victims and the heroic first responders. Brian Ross will report on what is known about the alleged shooter and his motives. Martha Raddatz and Bill Weir will contribute reporting on the impact on the US military.

In addition, Charlie Gibson will have an exclusive interview with Army Chief of Staff General George Casey Jr. and his wife, Sheila.

Last night on the broadcast, Gibson reflected on his time in the military, discussing the location of the massacre with correspondent John Quinones: “I go back to my time in the military, John. This is a processing center. And I remember, we used to line up to get shots and whatever just before we were about to do anything.”

ABC’s Jeffrey Kofman will also be reporting live form Orlando on the mass shooting there.

ABC News is shifting several bureau correspondents to new cities.

Miguel Marquez moves from Los Angeles to the London bureau; Mike Von Fremd moves from Dallas to Los Angeles and Ryan Owens moves from New York to Dallas.

Marquez joined ABC news in May 2005, but has spent much of his time reporting overseas in Iraq. From LA, Marquez covered everything from the entertainment industry to the seemingly-endless California wildfires. For 30-year ABC News veteran Mike Von Fremd, the move to Los Angeles is the next stop after assignments in cities including Chicago, Washington (Congress & The White House), and Dallas. Von Fremd was part of the team that received the Edward R. Murrow award for the “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings‘” broadcast the day President Clinton was impeached.

Relative newcomer Ryan Owens takes Von Fremd’s spot in Dallas. Owens has been a New York-based correspondent since March, before that, he was co-anchor of “World News Now” and “America This Morning.”

Today’s press release is after the jump…

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ABC’s Sam Champion had arrived in Texas in time for Nightline last night. CNN’s Anderson Cooper broadcast live from Houston as well, and while getting an update from meteorologist Chad Myers asked Myers to email him the best (or perhaps worst) location to broadcast from tonight.

This morning, CNN and MSNBC have begun squeezing back their programming, keeping Hurricane Ike stats on the screen.

Even The Weather Channel is trying to show the seriousness of the Cat 2 storm to anyone choosing to ride it out. Here’s their morning headline: “A Potential Life-Threatening Surge from Ike.”

We’ll update this post throughout the day as we hear who is going to be covering the storm and from where…

• CNN — More than 70 anchors, correspondents, producers and support-personnel will report along the Texas coastline, representing CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN Espanol, CNN Radio, CNN.com and Headline News. In addition to Cooper, Rick Sanchez, Gary Tuchman, Sean Callebs, Betty Nguyen, Susan Candiotti, Jeanne Meserve, Ali Velshi, Rusty Dornin, Rob Marciano and Reynolds Wolf will report on the storm. CNN will remain live all night and into the morning.

• CBS — Hari Sreenivasan is in Houston. Dave Price is in Galveston. Both will report for the Evening News tonight and The Early Show tomorrow.

• FNC — Geraldo Rivera, Steve Harrigan and Marianne Silber are in Galveston, TX, as is Jeff Flock from FBN. Kris Gutierrez is in Surfside Beach, Freeport, Casey Stegall is in Clear Lake and Rick Leventhal is in Port Lavaca. Also, Shepard Smith anchors tonight from 10pm-MidnightET (from New York), followed by Rivera Midnight-3amET and Jamie Colby from 3am-6amET.

• NBC/MSNBC/CNBC — Amy Robach is in Galveston for Today & Weekend Today. Janet Shamlian, Don Teague, Kerry Sanders, Charles Hadlock, Kristen Dahlgren and Jay Gray are on the scene, as is NBC Weather Plus meteorologist Jeff Ranieri and CNBC’s Scott Cohn. NBC will also use correspondents and meteorologists from soon-to-be owned The Weather Channel.

• ABC — In addition to Sam Champion, GMA Weekend’s Bill Weir is in Texas as well as Sharyn Alfonsi and Ryan Owens.