Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 30, 1993 TAG: 9301300130
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From wire reports
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DENNIS MILLER GETS AN ENDORSEMENT
David Letterman has some advice for NBC about his replacement after he departs for CBS this summer. "I hear a lot of talk about this Dana Carvey. There's a boy we ought to look at," Letterman says in the Feb. 18 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. "But you know, I started watching `The Dennis Miller Show' before it was canceled, and I thought, if you're looking for a guy to do a talk show at 12:30, Dennis would be a pretty good choice," Letterman added.Letterman, who spoke with Rolling Stone before his switch to CBS became official a couple of weeks ago, is not the first person to throw Miller's name into the replace-Dave sweepstakes. In fact, it's kind of an obvious supposition. Besides Miller's talk show, which was never mentioned in print without the word "hip" in the article, there's also his connection to "Saturday Night Live" (where he worked six years) and its creator-executive producer Lorne Michaels. It's Michaels who is putting together the new 12:30 NBC show. Of course, Michaels obviously is more than familiar with Carvey, too. And Michaels, Carvey and Miller all share the same management firm, so . . . stay tuned.
So, is Bob Costas thinking about sliding up an hour and taking the soon-to-be-vacated Letterman slot? No way. He's very happy with the very-late-night 1:35 a.m. time slot he's filled for five years now with his "Later" interview show. "I'm not a candidate for the 12:30 a.m. slot on NBC," Costas told us the other night. "I consider myself a minor player tucked away in a nice neat corner of the world."
For its "continuing excellence in news and public affairs," National Public Radio was the winner of a Gold Baton, the highest honor in broadcast journalism, at last week's 51st annual Alfred I. Du Pont-Columbia University Awards ceremony, hosted by Bill Moyers, who won last year's Gold Baton.
Also handed out were 14 Silver Batons, including ones to "Nightline" and ABC News for its coverage of the LA riots; to CBS' "60 Minutes" for a program about goods made in Chinese prison, and to PBS' "Frontline" for a show about a breakdown in the child-welfare system. Silver batons for work in cable went to Nickelodeon and Linda Ellerbee's Lucky Duck Productions for their "Nick News W/5," and to HBO for "Abortion: Desperate Choices." Bill Leonard, director of the Du Pont Awards, and former president of CBS News, also won a Silver\ Baton.
Cokie Roberts will join "This Week With David Brinkley" as a regular roundtable panelist, ABC announced Thursday. She joins Sam Donaldson and George Will on the Sunday morning program. Roberts, an ABC News correspondent since 1988, has been a frequent panelist on the show in the past . . . CBS' "48 Hours," which just celebrated its fifth anniversary, racked up its highest ratings ever Wednesday night, with a show about kids being left home alone . . . Similarly, "CBS This Morning" scored its highest ratings ever last week. It was a good week all around in the morning, with NBC's "Today" earning its best numbers since election week, and front-runner "Good Morning America" doing its best ratings in two years . . .
Kelsey Grammer will get to reprise his "Cheers" character, anxiety-prone shrink Dr. Frasier Crane, in a new, as-yet-untitled NBC comedy series in the works for next season. Alas, Bebe Neuwirth, who played Frasier's wife, Lilith, will not be in the new series.
Despite TV critics speculating that Jay Leno will ask for a pay rise now that he is firmly entrenched behind his "Tonight Show" desk, NBC spokeswoman Pat Schultz said the comic "has not asked to renegotiate his contract" . . . If NBC does not get a comedy show lined up to replace departing David Letterman, NBC may stretch the "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to 90 minutes, the late-night show's original length.
Former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite said the networks have all but abandoned the long-form documentary to CNN and C-SPAN. "They [the cable operations] are doing a splendid job," said Cronkite, "but the misfortune is that the networks have discharged their responsibility and are willing to let the other guy do it."
Here's a TV commercial twist. J.P. DeJoria, whose Paul Mitchell hair products are sold only at salons, has launced a multimillion dollar advertising campaign to discourage buying Paul Mitchell products at supermarkets and drug stores. "The nonsalon products are rip-offs," said DeJoria spokesman Dick Guttman. "They could be filled with nuclear sludge."