“I liked the first week of the Woodruff-Vargas version of ‘World News Tonight’ much more than I expected,” the New York Sun’s David Blum says. “You have to give the tag team points for hard work; in a busy news week, they showed their faces in Iran, Israel, and West Virginia, updated the newscast for the West Coast, and did a thorough job with complex stories like the Abramoff bribery scandal and the mining disaster – owing much, in both cases, to ABC’s distinguished investigative reporter Brian Ross.

Still, after a week I wonder whether I’m ever going to turn to Elizabeth Vargas in an hour of need. Her facial expressions remind me of a scenery-chewing stage actor who doesn’t quite understand the character she’s supposed to play. She smiles like the star of a toothpaste commercial, and wrinkles her brow like she’s about to get a flu shot – and neither at quite the right moment. Peter Jennings must be rolling over in his gravitas.”