On Television

...Weekend will not be back next week"—were typical in their wonderful understatement Prime Time Sunday has its strengths, too The other New York critics have rapped the set, comparing it unfavorably to the control room of Edward R Murrow's See It Now I think it is a good idea Snyder sits in the center with his technical people and machines circling him, like Indians The set is even nicer and more alive than that of News Center Four, which it strongly resembles—not surprisingly, since Paul Friedman, the producer of Prime Time Sunday, was also the original producer of News Center Four True, he's repeating himself, but keep in mind that the gun that won the West was the repeater Other critics have also chided the new newsmagazine for the way the director and his aides count down to commercials I find it makes for a profound statement on the meaning of commercial TV I like the end of the show as well You can hear the director m New York talking to his field producers and directors in Santa Fe, Chicago, Washington, London, and Osh-kosh "Thank you, Sante Fe Thank you, Chicago " Then the screen fades to black while you see the lever-level being pushed If Prime Time Sunday has any problems, it is the content As much as I admire Snyder's interviews, with all their marvelous gimmickry, they often don't seem to have much substance A half hour live about certain subjects can be a bore A few weeks ago, for instance, there was a discussion of arson with two San Francisco firemen The fact that they were sitting on the steps of the firetruck didn't justify all the time The segment shouldn't have made it on "A M Toledo," much less Prime Time Sunday Most of the blame rests with the executive producer, Friedman, who picks and edits the stories He has a faulty touch Prime Time Sunday reminds me of local evening news shows that send out a crack minicam crew to bring back pictures of a reporter standing in a pothole This may account for its alarming drop in circulation (Nielsen ratings) after its debut Or maybe Tom Snyder has finally become too likeable...

...OnTelevision HOW TOM SNYDER GREW ON ME BY MARVIN KITMAN TOM snyder and I first met in 1974, at a press conference held in New York's Plaza Hotel He was there to be introduced as the anchorman of the new two-hour News Center Four on WNBC (5-7 p m ), which quickly earned a place in TV history as the first news program that was twice as long but half as good More annoying to me, the addition of the earlier hour killed off the bad movies that were my favorite part of the Channel 4 schedule I took an instant dislike to Snyder, and the feeling intensified as 1 watched him in his anchor spot "Underneath that superiority complex is a real superiority complex," went the sort of thing 1 wrote about him in 1974 "Tom is from Los Angeles So is Wink Mar-tindale Tom is the only man I know on television with prematurely oranging hair The rug he's wearing must be his way of showing his approval of the color TV era He is that certain kind of newsman who uses hau spray on his body (a technique pioneered by President Nixon, who, it is said, used Mitchum Roll-On on his lace) I may even have suggested that Tom wore lipstick Something about him brought out the most objective side in us serious television critics of the mid-1970s I mean, he was really obnoxious Then came Tom as the host of 7b-morrow (1am), where he was such a great and immediate success that he quit News Center Four Yet he continued to leave me cold "Having Tom follow Johnny Carson," I remember quoting my friend Stu Schneider, "is like having Larry Flynt follow Billy Graham " Yes sir, I was no help at all to Snyder in his early days, when he was limping along making about $300,000 a year, a poverty wage at the network of peacocks Tom responded in kind People magazine, for instance, reported him as saying that my wife "was good in the sack " Don't I know One night he even wasted valuable time on Tomorrow by attacking my considered judgment of him Mind you, this was before 1 ever mentioned anylhing about his shower neurosis (He bathes more than anv man in the annals ot Western plumbing) Some people have absolutely no threshold for criticism, but Tom's is zero Anything less than unstinting praise gets him mad Still, I didn't let that influence my opinion of him I remained willing to bury the hatchet—in his head, if necessary That's the kind of guy I am—quick to forgive It was with that kindly attitude that I met Snyder for the second time, again at the Plaza Hotel where he was now being introduced to the press as the star of the new Prime Time Sunday live newsmagazine show (NBC, 10 p m ) In fact, I was very excited about his new job At last there would be someone in prime time besides Howard Cosell to hate and ridicule "Nobody does Cosell impressions at parties anymore,' observed my colleague, Lewis Gnzzard of the Miami Herald "Now everybody is doing Tom Snyder impressions You sit in a chair at 1 o'clock in the morning, cross your legs, light a cigarette, and say something stupid " A strange thing happened, however, as I listened to Tom speak I suddenly realized that I no longer disliked the fellow1 Although it burst on me with the force of a revelation, the change had actually been m the making for quite awhile It began, I believe, as far back as two years ago, when I found myself rooting for Snyder to get the Today show job instead of Tom "The Man in the Iron Mask" Brokaw, who replaced Jim Hartz, who replaced Frank McGee, whose untimely death —aren't they all—started Today's problems By golly, after watching Brokaw and his Barbara Walters puppet, Jane Pauley, I would even have taken Saturday Night Live's Dan Ackroyd imitating Tom Snyder My increasing respect for the man obviously had been festering in my subconscious, until it blossomed forth at the Plaza event So what, 1 thought tomyselt, it Tom Snyder takes live showers a dav' So what it he had orange hair and has now switched to a new black and w hue wig (silvering, for distinguished newsmen)' So what it he occasionally makes dumb remarks on Tomorrow ' \\i all make dumb remarks sometimes At least he has the decency to get his dumbness out of his system late at mght, when most of us smart guys are asleep I don't even think that charming manner of his is "belligerent ignorance," as James Wolcott of the Village Voice described it Sure Tom gets carried away during his interviews But if he blows smoke in people's faces and cuts in on them, it's only because he is really listening Moreover, it is perfectly clear to me now that while the man is basically a boorish megalomaniac—after all, who isn't in broadcasting'7 Trappist monk types don't get on the air—he has a lot of humanity in him There is somebody home in his eyes "I dropped out for two years and did some soul searching," he explained on the air recently about the period after he failed to get the Today plum "And I didn't like what I found " I admire a man who can say that Tom is an acquired taste To me he is Liederkranz cheese, where most TV newsmen are Velveeta or slices of individually wrapped American cheese So far, I think he has been holding up nicely on Prime Time Sunday He hasn't said anything too stupid, he hasn't even blown smoke in anybody's face, although this may have something to do with the fact that the people he interviews are often thousands of miles away As for the show itself—well, it is not yet anywhere near as good as Weekend, which it replaced Originally scheduled only once a month as a replacement for Saturday Night Live, Weekend was earlier this year given a chance m prime time After a few weeks m the Bottom Ten, it was yanked off the air There was nothing wrong with the newsmagazine—now known as "Lost Weekend"—except Freddy Silverman and the fear mentality he has brought to NBC At CBS, 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7pm) was given 10 years to reach the Top Ten What Weekend really needed was Valiums for the programmers It carved out an audience from nowhere back in the days when it was on at 11 30 p m Nobody watched serious network TV at that hour on Saturdays, all the experts knew, so the slot was relegated to The Best of Carson When Reuven Frank, who developed Weekend, proved there were people ieady to tune in, the slot became too valuable to waste on the newsmagazine, and it was kicked upstairs "The Not Quite Ready for Prime Time News Show," one industry wag called it then That was true, but the mass audience was even less ready for Weekend, and all Frank did to adapt the brilliant, witty, beautifully photographed monthly to a weekly format was hire Linda El-lerbee as coanchor with Lloyd Dobbins She is good, but there aren't many Linda EUerbee fan clubs around An earth-mother figure at CBS and NBC News before being tapped for her new role, EUerbee had a disheveled look that unhinged many network newsmen and viewers, including me For Weekend she made the ultimate sacrifice and combed her hair, but the show remained over people's heads Silverman had left Reuven Frank alone, he undoubtedly would have found a workable formula for the program at its new time Frank is one of perhaps a handful of people in TV journalism who are so eminent and innovative that we take them for granted Half the advances in TV news on every level—the writing, the format, techmcal capability—we owe to him Cutaways are just one small example Nobody in TV knew how to get away from a boring talker who was being interviewed without a distracting jump cut before Reuven thought of showing something else, hke the back of the interviewer's or interviewee's heads He is crazy, an idealist, and given some time he undoubtedly would have turned Weekend into a success The death of the show was, then, one of the most senseless killings on TV, the medium of mindless violence Dobbins' parting words...