`Newshour' Searching For New Partner To Replace Gergen
WASHINGTON - Co-anchor Robert MacNeil said "The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour" will "cast our net wide" in the search for a replacement for political analyst David Gergen, who was named White House counselor last weekend by President Clinton.
The surprise assignment for Gergen, who served three Republican presidents and most recently has been editor-at-large for U.S. News & World Report, has left syndicated columnist and admitted Democrat Mark Shields without a Friday night partner on the PBS program after a six-year run together.
"It won't be easy," said MacNeil, "because David and Mark had a kind of magic and a chemistry that just grew and grew and became a very special ingredient of the program.
"It's going to take a while to find someone that Mark feels comfortable with and with whom he can create another kind of valuable chemistry."
MacNeil said the program will miss the partnership. "They both started from different ideological positions but instead of getting into a television food fight, they very quickly began to evolve and so viewers saw the humanity and savvy and humor of the way politics really are. It would have been equally difficult if Mark had left - the audience knows that besides the humor, he's an incredibly deep, shrewd man, with an inexhaustible supply of political information."
No target date for finding a replacement, he says.
"We'll consider anybody who is fresh and viable. But I don't want to confine us publicly to some narrow focus."
Senior producer Peggy Robinson said that in searching for Gergen's successor "obviously what you need to balance Mark is a Republican thinker and analyst."
"I think we obviously want to keep Mark, we need to bring in other people and see what works. We have found out one thing - that the Friday night political analysis is a desirable feature of the program and we don't want to let it slide. Over the next couple of weeks we'll try people out to see if the chemistry works with Mark."
HILLARY TO CHAT WITH KATIE
"Hillary: America's First Lady" airs on NBC June 10. Anchored by Katie Couric, the special will explore how Hillary Rodham Clinton is redefining the role of first lady, developing the new health-care plan and juggling responsibilities. The program also will provide viewers with an inside look at the White House, including a rare view of the second-floor private residence. Couric will ask Clinton about public reaction to her White House role, including her influence on her husband's decisions and in other matters affecting the Clinton administration. Clinton also will talk about raising teen-age daughter Chelsea in a White House atmosphere. And she will discuss the really big issue: her haircut. - Newsday
LET THE GAMES BEGIN
The game-show wars commence Monday, with the Family Channel's new 2 1/2-hour game-show block - a prelude to the arrival of its Game Channel late this year.
This isn't to be confused with Sony and Mark Goodson Productions' Game Show Channel, to launch by spring 1994.
Family's shows - reruns of Monty Hall's "Let's Make a Deal," Jim Lange's "$100,000 Name That Tune" and "Cross-Wits" with David Sparks - will air with a new version of "Trivial Pursuit" with Wink Martindale. The block airs at 11:30 a.m. Eastern weekdays.
Sony's channel has locked up the libraries to the Mark Goodson, Merv Griffin, Barry & Enright and Chuck Barris shows, with such names as "Password," "What's My Line?", "Wheel of Fortune," "Tic Tac Dough" and "The Newlywed Game."
"We're much more interested in programming toward tomorrow, with new shows," says Ron Harris, senior vice president of International Family Entertainment, parent company of the Game Channel.
With its Game Channel, Family plans to charge $5 a call to participate in quiz-show giveaways - a new example of the brave new world linking TV, telephone and computer. Also, it's a way for the cable channel to make money without selling advertising. - USA Today
DAVE'S LAST GUESTS
David Letterman says he won't do anything special to finish his NBC "Late Night" run, except, of course, for what he may have to say before the NBC lights go out and he starts getting ready for his CBS August launch.
Among his final week's guests scheduled are Julia Child, June 22; "NBC News" anchor Tom Brokaw, June 23; Garry Shandling, June 24; and Tom Hanks, June 25. - Newsday