Newsweek Strikes First With Powell Book Summary
Colin Powell’s battle for the hearts, minds and disposable income of Americans is under way, as the Sept. 11 Newsweek makes clear.
Newsweek wins a skirmish in its unceasing confrontation with mighty Time by corralling a copy of Powell’s memoirs. Time, which has magazine-excerpt rights, plans to run chunks next week at the start of a nationwide publicity tour by Powell.
Bowing to lawyers’ advice, Newsweek does not actually quote from the book. But its lengthy summary and paraphrase might raise one relevant question: Why pay $35 for “My American Journey”?
The weekly says that while it offers ample inspiring tales about Powell’s upbringing, it is “not tell-all confessional, either personal or political. Powell cleverly uses the book to hide in plain sight.”
He avoids answering whether he plans to run for president and, as telling, what his views are on fundamental issues, notably abortion, immigration, welfare and capital punishment.
Perhaps Powell, who received a reported $6 million advance, will reveal his hand a bit more on a well-orchestrated, 25-city book tour and network-TV interviews with the likes of Barbara Walters and Katie Couric.
But if Newsweek’s initial assessment is correct, don’t bet money, even $35, on it.
ABC, ‘Seinfeld’ atop ratings
NBC’s “Seinfeld” was the No. 1 program in primetime last week with a 16.0 rating/27 share, according to Nielsen ratings released Wednesday.
ABC was the top network with an 8.7 average primetime rating for the week, followed by NBC (8.1), CBS (7.8), Fox (5.8), UPN (4.7) and WB (2.3).
A rating point equals 954,000 television households. A share is the percentage of TV sets tuned to a particular program.
Here are the top 10 primetime programs for Aug. 28-Sept. 3, their networks, ratings and shares: “Seinfeld” (rerun) NBC 16.0/27; “Home Improvement” (rerun) ABC 14.9/25; “Primetime Live” ABC 13.6/24; “ER” (rerun) NBC 13.2/24; “Grace Under Fire” (rerun) ABC 12.9/22; “Mad About You” (rerun/ special) NBC 12.8/23; “Ellen” (rerun/ special) ABC 12.8/21; “Coach” (rerun) ABC 12.3/20; “Murphy Brown” (rerun) CBS 12.3/20; “Friends” (rerun/special) NBC 12.1/23.
‘CBS This Morning’ changing “CBS This Morning,” with Harry Smith and Paula Zahn, will unveil a new set and format, including a studio audience, Oct. 16.
“This Morning” experimented with a studio audience in David Letterman’s Ed Sullivan Theater digs for a week in May, when Letterman did his show from London. Rather than relocate there, “This Morning” will continue out of its present spot at CBS’s Broadcast Center.
Perhaps as a tribute to Letterman, Studio 44 is being redesigned to look like “an old-fashioned Broadway theater, with modern touches,” says a CBS spokeswoman. It will seat up to 100 people in the audience.
First guest: Colin Powell, who will take command of the entire 8-to-9-a.m. segment. In its new format, “This Morning” will devote the second hour to one person or topic.
Funicello bio a TV movie Annette Funicello, America’s teen sweetheart in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, will star in “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” a made-for-TV movie that chronicles her life, from her Mouseketeer days through her singing-star and beach-movie queen phase to her recent struggles with multiple sclerosis.
The film, which airs Oct. 22 at 9 p.m. on CBS, is based on Funicello’s same-titled autobiography.
Linda Lavin (“Alice”) will play Annette’s mother. Annette will be played as a child by Elysa Hogg, as a teen-ager by Andrea Nemeth, and as a young woman by Eva LaRue, who currently stars as Maria Santos on the ABC soap “All My Children.”