ANGRY BABS: 'I CAN QUIT'

By Don Kaplan --
BAM! Barbara Walters is kicking it up a notch.

The day after her newsmagazine show, "20/20," was yanked from its comfortable timeslot, Walters is saying she may leave the network next year. Walters, who signed a not-so-iron-clad, five-year contract last fall worth about $60 million - says she'll have an opportunity to jump ship in late 2002 and will entertain offers.

"It gives me an out - not them - next December," Walters told The New York Times. "So I'll do some thinking about my future, I have this one-time window next December."

The most famous woman on television was stung this week when ABC booted "20/20" off Fridays at 10 p.m. - a timeslot it had occupied since 1987 - and gave it to the struggling romantic/drama "Once and Again," starring Sela Ward.

This fall, "20/20" will start the new season on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. and then get yanked off the schedule in November when "NYPD Blue" debuts on its new night. ABC officials have said "20/20" will return about seven weeks later in December, when it will likely return to its original 10 p.m. timeslot.

The move caught Walters, ABC News staffers and the rest of the TV industry by surprise.

And it has now given ABC's arch-rival, CBS, an opportunity to snatch "20/20's" Friday-night news audience. Yesterday CBS officials said they were scheduling their newsmagazine ''48 Hours" at 10 p.m.

"We were surprised by the '20/20' move," CBS chief Les Moonves said yesterday.

"It's a newsmagazine that's dominated that time period for 14 years and there's a clear audience for a newsmagazine at 10 o'clock on Friday night - so when they moved that, we jumped in."

Another issue likely to be considered by both ABC and Walters would be the fate of her successful syndicated show, "The View," which she co-owns with the network.

The show and her relationship with it - both as an on-screen co-host and behind-the-scenes producer - are a big part of her current deal with ABC.

Yesterday, ABC officials reiterated that despite Walters' grumbling, she has overall been "open-minded" about the scheduling change.__N.Y. Post (May 17, 2001)