World News Update is an overnight news program hosted by two or three ABC News anchors. It features a mix of general and offbeat stories, weather forecasts, sports highlights and repurposed segments and story packages from other ABC News programs, often in a lighthearted or irreverent tone. It is often a direct competitor for NBC News Overnight.
The show was originally broadcast from the ABC News studios in New York City, but in 2011, it moved to a side view of the existing set for ABC World News. The move also coincided with the departure of co-anchor Maria Bartiromo, who was replaced by Kathryn Nelson and Jeremy Hubbard. When a full-time anchor departs, a “cardboard cutout” of the person is placed in a graphic of the original ABC World News set’s rafters and monitors for the “Anchor Hall of Fame.”
Some unique features of the program include the witty “World News Polka,” played by comedian Barry Mitchell on the accordion (usually with the tempo of “Funky Monkey”), a segment titled “Insomniac Theater” in which an Anchor reviews (and scores) a recent movie release, and Friday’s Insomniac Kitchen, in which the anchors visit a local New York City restaurant to sample late-night snacks and share recipes. The program always ends with some version of the World News Polka, while its production credits are scrolled on screen. Several network O&Os, such as WABC-TV in New York, and WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, have previously preempted the program in favor of running their own local programming until their local news begins at 6:00 a.m. KTWO-TV in Casper, Wyoming and WVII-TV in Bangor, Maine have also chosen to air their local late night programming instead of World News Update.
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