|
By Peter Johnson; Alan Bash -- USA Today -- December 2, 1996 -- Section: LIFE; Pg. 3D Conan O'Brien, coming off his best sweeps performance yet, gets another boost tonight when CNBC begins running month-old “Late Night With Conan O'Brien” shows weeknights at 10 ET/7 PT. The move, an attempt by CNBC to draw younger viewers to its prime-time talk lineup, should help expose O'Brien to a new audience: people who don't stay up for his regular post-midnight roost on NBC. "This is really a chance for my parents to watch," he says. "They know I have a 12:30 a.m. show, but they have no evidence to that fact." Repeats of “Late Night” will now follow “Rivera Live” and precede “Charles Grodin”, which moves to 11 ET/8 PT, replacing ”America After Hours”, which has been canceled. But O'Brien won't try to tailor his NBC show so that the repeats nicely bridge the Rivera-Grodin gap. "I view us as the whipped cream between the layers of roughage," he says, referring to Rivera's and Grodin's focus on O.J. Simpson. "Nightly updates of Faye Resnick's latest testimony for us would be a huge mistake." ABOARD CBS: After eight years as an MTV News reporter, Alison Stewart says deciding to leave wasn't easy. "I turned every part of this over," Stewart says. Of course, it probably helped having two network news divisions courting her -- ABC and CBS News. Last week, CBS announced that she has signed a three-year deal to report for “This Morning”, “48 Hours”, the upcoming newsmag “Coast to Coast” and CBS' cable channel, Eye on People, set to launch March 31. Stewart is in Sun Valley, Idaho, this week for “Coast to Coast”, reporting on a man who lives with wolves. "You can kind of throw me anywhere," says Stewart, who describes herself as an "action adventure queen" and "big current-events news junkie." The New Jersey native says she chose CBS because "they seemed genuinely interested in me as a person" and not someone the network is bringing in for a Generation Xish perspective on stories. "I told them I didn't want to be a generational token, and they actually agreed." GUMBEL'S FAREWELL: “Today” anchor Bryant Gumbel, set to step down next month, will tell Oprah Winfrey today (check local listings) why he was a no-show on “Today” after not being picked to interview O.J. Simpson, who later canceled. As to why some think he's arrogant: "If Ted Koppel, Barbara Walters and Bryant Gumbel ask the same question of the same officials in the same tone of voice, Ted would be viewed as prepared, Barbara would be viewed as bitchy and Bryant would be viewed as arrogant." GRAPHIC: PHOTO, B/W, AP; O'Brien: Reruns to air in prime time. Copyright 1996 Gannett Company, Inc. |