Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406040072
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Richard Huff New York Daily News
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Cab drivers, ushers at the White House, bellhops, they've all asked when she'd be back on the small screen. Well, ask no more. Next month, George returns to the airwaves in "A Phyllis George Special," a series of one-hour interview programs for cable's The Nashville Network.
"My choice was not to work," George recently said. "I knew in my heart it was a very good decision."
The one-time Miss America (1971), who is married to former Kentucky Gov. John Y. Brown, spent her time away raising their son, Lincoln, who will turn 14 next month, and 10-year-old Pamela.
Before her break from the industry, George had toiled at CBS for a decade, co-anchoring the "NFL Today" between 1975 and 1984, and co-hosting the "CBS Morning News" for eight months in 1985.
During her time away, she didn't totally disappear from TV, but her on-air work was limited to a few co-hosting roles.
Not that she wasn't busy.
Besides her time as wife and mother, George wrote two books, one a diet book and one on crafts, and did a lot of charity work. She also started Chicken by George, a food company she later sold to Hormel.
George also spent 1993 as the honorary chair and spokesperson for the Year of American Craft, a national recognition of American craftwork. The year resulted in the book "Craft in America: Celebrating the Work of the Hand."
While she's now getting back to a regular tube gig, she says she still has no intention of getting back into the hectic grind of weekly television. Instead, she'll host the TNN specials on her own schedule.
"I can do as many or as few as I want from now to the end of the year - three, maybe four," she said.
In her first special, scheduled to air June 22 at 8 p.m, George does interviews with President Clinton, father-and-son stock car drivers Richard and Kyle Petty, and country singer Naomi Judd.
"We're not looking to catch people off guard," George said of the special. "It's not a go-for-the-jugular kind of show."
For example, with Clinton, a man she's known personally for 15 years, she spent their time together trying "to capture the personal side" that she's seen during their friendship. The talk, which took place in April at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, where the President was attending a show for Ford Mustang enthusiasts, covers such issues as parenting, pressures of the Presidency and what the Clintons do for family activities.
by CNB