When the post-Peter Jennings era officially begins on ABC's "World News Tonight" tonight co-anchors Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff will be on different sides of the world instead of different sides of a desk.

Vargas will be in a New York studio while Woodruff reports from Iran.

Get used to a different kind of anchor team. If ABC's vision pans out, Vargas and Woodruff may be apart as often as they are together, with one or sometimes both jetting to the scene of a story for the show.

Both Vargas, 43, and Woodruff, 44, have had prominent roles at ABC News for several years. Jennings' death, however, thrust them into the network's on-air leadership position prematurely, and their first few months will be a get-acquainted period for viewers.

While rival Brian Williams was groomed for NBC's top anchor job for years, it hardly seemed like destiny for ABC's pair.

"This was never a job I had set my sights on," Vargas said. "I was really happy as host of '20/20' and doing my work there, and never once did I dream that this was something that I would eventually do."

Neither did her former bosses as she climbed the ladder of local TV markets. They all advised her to stick to reporting because she wasn't a good anchor.

Why the unanimity?

"Probably because it was true," she said, laughing. "Listen, every single successful network news anchor first cut their teeth and had been successes as reporters. I actually look, in hindsight, to have been a brilliant planner. The best thing those bosses ever did for me ... was to tell me that I'm a good reporter and a lousy anchor, because that's really what got me here — my reporting."

A stint at "Good Morning America" honed her live, in-studio skills. Her cool, cerebral style seems better suited to the evening than the morning.

Woodruff grew up in Michigan and became a corporate lawyer. He took a leave of absence to teach in China and helped CBS News during the Tiananmen Square uprising. He became hooked on journalism.

"When I realized there was a job that existed in this world where I could be in the middle of huge world events and actually get paid for it, it was an epiphany for me," he said.

Woodruff covered the Justice Department for ABC News during the Clinton administration. But his legal background initially was a disadvantage in one way. "I was writing like a lawyer for television news," he said. "It was not a pretty sight."

His goal was to be a foreign correspondent, and he spent three years in London.

During the last few years Woodruff anchored the weekend edition of "World News Tonight," evidence that he was considered an up-and-comer at ABC News.

The team's ascension hasn't been completely smooth. On the day they were appointed, Charles Gibson told some reporters that he had been negotiating to be part of the anchor mix but that talks had broken down, creating an impression that Vargas and Woodruff weren't the first choice.

Then Washington Post critic Tom Shales wrote that Vargas and Woodruff's coverage of President Bush's prime-time Dec. 18 speech was a "bumbling bow."

"World News Tonight" heads into tonight's debut having been beaten by NBC's "Nightly News" by more than a million viewers for eight straight weeks. Some believe Gibson would have been tougher competition.

Vargas disputes the notion that ABC has been hurt in the ratings while she or Woodruff were substitute anchors.

"This network and this show has been operating at a distinct disadvantage for eight months," she said. "We had an anchor who was sick and dying, and a death we had to deal with. ... While NBC was pouring $8 million into promoting Brian Williams, we were not able to do anything."