Walters to leave ‘20/20’ this fall

After 25 years in which she became synonymous with ABC’s newsmagazine “20/20,” Barbara Walters will leave the show in September, the network announced Sunday.

In a statement on its website, ABC stressed that, while Walters is stepping down from the platform for which she is best known, she will remain at ABC and continue to produce “Barbara Walters Specials,” including her annual Oscar-night show.

Still, Walters’ decision to leave “20/20” means the network is losing the weekly presence of one of its biggest personalities -- one who delivered a stream of “big-get” interviews for the show and helped brand the direction and tenor of the network’s most venerable newsmagazine.

In a separate development, ABC also will announce today that it is reviving a version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” the game show the network rode to ratings success before the franchise collapsed, taking ABC’s prime-time fortunes with it. The show will return as a series of specials leading to the Academy Awards on Feb. 29.

Walters, who recently hinted that she was thinking of writing her memoirs, is stepping down after one of the big “gets” of the fall, an interview with Martha Stewart, and at a time when the audience for “20/20” is up 11% to an average of 10 million viewers.

Walters’ decision adds to what will be an extraordinary changing of the guard in network television in the next several months, as CBS’ Don Hewitt, the creator of “60 Minutes,” steps down from running the show in May, and “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw gives up the anchor chair after the presidential election.

Walters, who ABC said is 71, has made known to friends that she is tired of the constant grind of internal politics at ABC News, not to mention a continuous battle within the division over whether she or colleague Diane Sawyer will get the major interviews and promotional resources. Walters and Sawyer have denied publicly that there is animosity between them.

On “20/20,” which she joined in 1979 and co-hosted with Hugh Downs until Downs left the show in 1999, Walters became known for memorable pieces on newsmakers, from Cuban President Fidel Castro to Clinton White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Walters’ session with Lewinsky in 1999 was the highest-rated newsmagazine interview until it was eclipsed by the network’s airing of a BBC documentary on pop star Michael Jackson.

ABC said Walters will continue in her capacity as executive producer of the daytime talk show “The View.” Walters could not be reached Sunday evening. In a statement on the website, she said: “ ‘20/20’ has been an integral part of my life and a major focus of my work. Starting in September, I want to have more flexibility in my life without the responsibilities of a weekly newsmagazine.”

Times staff writer Greg Braxton contributed to this report.