THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 27, 1997 TAG: 9701250066
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: 93 lines
SHE'S BACK. Connie Chung is returning to television, first with public broadcasting and later with a company started by Steven Spielberg.
Connie's Comeback. It was the big buzz at a convention of TV movers and shakers in New Orleans, the city famous for its ``Po' Boy.''
That's a sandwich. Not a homeless kid.
After her career as network anchor and correspondent ended in May 1995 when she was fired from the ``CBS Evening News,'' Chung left the national stage to become a full-time wife and mother to an adopted son, Matthew. Chung is out of the nursery and back in the biz.
Accompanied by her husband, Maury Povich, she attended the annual gathering of television programmers to begin selling their TV magazine, which has yet to be named.
The ``Connie and Maury Show'' or ``Connie & Maury'' or ``Connie and Friend'' or whatever will be launched in the fall of 1998. One thing is for sure, said Chung:
``I'll have top billing.''
Because 1998 will be here before you know it, Chung and Povich worked the crowds with hugs and handshakes at the NATPE convention, which is really a big supermarket for selling syndicated and off-network TV shows - ``Conan, the Adventurer,'' ``First Wave,'' ``Vibe,'' ``Likely Suspects'' and dozens more, including the Chung-Povich half hour. They also sell personalities. Chung and Povich didn't have much more to sell than their handsome selves.
All they had to show potential buyers was a seven-minute tape.
It will be a flexible format, Chung said, adding: ``We'll report on a full range of stories that are compelling and touch the emotions. The stories will dictate the format we will use on any given show. It could be a one-on-one interview. It could be an entire show devoted to one story. It could be three stories in one show. We'll do investigative stories. We'll be enterprising.''
``A marriage of information and insight,'' say the producers.
The Chung-Povich show is aimed at what those in TV call ``first-run access,'' which means it's intended for the hours immediately leading to primetime. There is already a lot of syndicated programming out there, including ``infotainment'' shows such as ``American Journal'' and ``Hard Copy.''
Why would the producer, DreamWorks SKG, even consider sending Chung and Povich into this crowded field? Because the timing is right, said a DreamWorks SKG executive.
``There's too much of the same out there,'' Ken Solomon told Variety. ``Station buyers are intrigued by the pairing of Connie and Maury.''
Povich will continue with his daytime talk show - No. 8 rated in that field.
You'll have to wait a year and a half for the Connie and Maury show, but Chung's return to TV on her own is at hand. That takes place tonight at 10 on PBS when Chung hosts ``Knife to the Heart,'' a four-part series about transplant surgery.
Would she like to comment on how and why CBS jerked the chair out from under her on the ``CBS Evening News,'' leaving co-anchor Dan Rather to read the headlines on his own?
No, Chung would NOT like to comment on that.
How about the it's-just-between-you-and-me interview with Kathleen Gingrich that upset the White House and CBS brass?
Connie does not want to discuss that either.
``It's all ancient history,'' she said.
Chung is so darn charming that it doesn't hurt to be brushed off by her. Chung looks like she hasn't added a pound to her tiny figure or a month to her age. I can't believe she's 50.
Did she miss not doing TV?
Yes, she did. ``That's one of the reasons I went off to do the programs for public broadcasting,'' she said.
The PBS series begins with the story of Dr. Christiaan Barnard, and how he made history by successfully transplanting a human heart in 1967. By episode No. 4, Chung is telling viewers about how genetically engineered pigs may one day be ``harvested'' and their organs used to prolong the life of humans.
PBS tells us that doctors were successfully transplanting kidneys as far back as 1952. Three years before Barnard gave Lewis Washkansky a new heart in South Africa, surgeons in the United States had transplanted a chimp's heart into a human chest. Today, the medical miracle of organ transplants is almost routine, suggests the PBS producers.
With her work finished on the PBS series, and months to go before she starts the series with her husband, what's next for Chung?
``I've picked up something to do,'' she said. ``A Harvard fellowship. Want to help me with my term paper?''
Chung is at home in academia. She has four honorary doctorates and one degree she earned at the University of Maryland. They are in her trophy room with her three Emmys and a Peabody.
Connie Chung has returned to television. That's big news at NATPE. What could be bigger?
Saban Entertainment's announcement that the 1977 film ``Attack of the Killer Tomatoes'' will be an animated series starting this fall? I don't think so. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Connie Chung will also host a PBS series on transplant surgery.