20/20 Hiatus: Barbara Walters Takes One For the Team

The ABC News anchor says she doesn't like the 20/20 time period move and the plan to keep it off the air for two months,but she'll go along with it.
EXCLUSIVE: ABC Saves Once and Again While 20/20
Is Asked to Sit Out.

by Stephen Battaglio --
When ABC Television Network president Alex Wallau went to see Barbara Walters on Saturday at her apartment in Manhattan, she had already been told that her newsmagazine 20/20 would lose its time slot and be off the air for nearly two months this coming fall.

Walters offered her visitor tea or coffee, but he asked for water. ''I said that's very difficult, because it's harder to hide the arsenic,'' she said.

Walters was joking about it during a phone interview Monday, but she is not happy about the move made by ABC executives. In an effort to give struggling drama Once and Again one more shot at attracting a broader audience, ABC will move the show to the Friday 10 p.m. time period 20/20 has had since 1987. 20/20 will start the 2001-02 prime-time season on Wednesday at 10, where it will arguably face tougher competition from NBC's Law & Order. Then in November -- the sweep ratings period when newsmagazines typically haul out their sexiest stories -- ABC will move NYPD Blue into the hour and put 20/20 on the bench until late December.

''Is it a surprise? Yes,'' she said. ''Is it a hit? Yes. Is it a terrible hit? No.''

Walters is not convinced her program will go on hiatus. ''There are a whole bunch of ifs,'' she said. Clearly, if Once and Again doesn't perform in the ratings on Friday at 10, ABC could slide 20/20 back into the hour once NYPD Blue comes on. ''It's our hope we will be kept on,'' she said. ''If not, it will give us a chance to do a better January show. We know no matter what, we'll be on Friday starting Dec. 21. I said to Alex, 'If you can find some way of not giving us that hiatus, that would be best for the show.' ''

But turning on a dime to put on a show in November if the network wants it won't be easy. Walters said big interviews that are linked to movies or books being released in November won't be available to her. ''A lot of times we book a year in advance,'' she said. If a breaking news story occurs during the hiatus in which Walters can score a major interview -- her specialty -- she would not have her own prime-time venue to use as an inducement.

On Monday morning, Walters spoke to members of the 20/20 staff, who were clearly shaken by the news of the changes. According to those who attended, she comforted them rather than look for sympathy.

''One thing I want to do is be as upbeat as I can,'' she said. ''Am I concerned that we can't book for November? Sure. Do I think it will permanently damage us? No.''

But Walters, who signed a new contract with ABC last year, wouldn't address whether the move sent a message that the news division is of secondary importance to the network and its corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co. ''That's a question for Alex Wallau,'' she said.

Wallau was not immediately available for comment.__Inside.com (May 14, 2001)