The TV Zone

Yes, announced this morning, and everywhere now...He said he'll be fine. No apparent reason why he shouldn't. Says he has Stage II prostrate, and if this reasonably comprehensive overview is to be believed, this form is easily treatable, and 'ol Iman will be with us for a long time to come...

What did I think of Imus's ten-minute mea culpa this morning? I'm glad you asked, and though I'm also certain you'll call me gullible, I think it sounded reasonably sincere. I also think there were - as they might say out in Imus country in New Mexico - some bull pies thrown in for good measure. (For those, see below).

But mostly sincere? Sure. Why not. I met the guy some years ago when I did a profile of him for another newspaper: Found him ornery, hard-assed, mean, funny, interesting, obtuse, strange, and surly but never once phony. And believe me, after interviewing four million people over the course of this career, you get to know when someone's phony or not. That impression of Imus sort of stuck with me, and so that long on-air thing this morning felt sincere as well.

(But really, who cares? Imus is back, he has to make amends, suck up to the African American community, and hope this thing is forgotten by tomorrow morning.)

Now, a couple more impressions that may just belie my "sincere" stamp of approval:

a.) If all is well and good with CBS and Les Moonves - as he said - then what was that $40 million (or whatever the figure was) breach-of-contract suit about last May? Here's what Imus said:

"At around 4 o'clock that afternoon [when he went to New Jersey to meet with the Rutgers' team] I got a call from Les Moonves at CBS and he said, we can't take the pressure and we're gonna have to pull the plug, and I said I understood that...Les Moonves could not have been more honorable and more straightforward and more honest in dealing with me, not at any point that he said everything would be fine. We understood the gravity of the remark...we all recognized that it was just a matter of time before he did what he had to do."

Now hold on there one minute, cowboy: If Les did what he had to do, what was that breach suit all about? Just "lawyers talking?" I doubt that; Imus - if my read at the time was correct - was furious for being fired, and furious at Moonves. When I heard this load of bull pie this morning, I thought: Is "happy talk about Les" a requirement of the (no doubt huge financial) settlement?

b.) Imus said he wasn't going to do a Larry King mea culpa tour, but - hold on again - he's doing Barbara Walters this Thursday on her "Ten Most Fascinating" show!

Now Don, as you're well aware, a mea culpa's not been properly mea culpaed unless it's uttered - hopefully with tears brimming in your eyes - before the Queen. That's the law. And of course, you didn't mention it in the opening. Ok, fine, sure - Imus did later say he was doing Babs because she's such a good gal, an old friend, etc. But on a bull pie scale - with ten being the largest whopper - I'd say that rates a nine.

What did he say to Babs? Not much, but here are some outtakes:

She asked whether the new black cast members were added out of "guilt" (whaaa?) Said Imus: "No, I thought it was an opportunity to diversify the cast...I suddenly find myself now in this unique position to present a better program...Most programs are so ratings driven, people are so cowardly and terrified...And people don't want to have this conversation about race relations, so, out of this idiotic thing that I said, a lot of good can come, because I'll have a huge audience and an enormously influential audience."

A kinder Imus? "Well, I don't think so, no," he replied.

He said the Rutgers players were "hurt...The coach and I talked for hours. It took a while for everybody to get down to talk about how they felt. I told them about who I was and what my life was about, but I could see that I wasn't getting through."

"This had so much impact on them, because it was made such a huge deal. I had people say to me, 'Well, if the news media hadn't have blown it up, if Rev. Al hadn't have done that. &' I said, 'nonsense.'"

"The point was, it got to the point where they were, in fact, distraught about it. One of the kids said it's heartbreaking, one of the kids said to me, 'you know, it's just so upsetting.' I just kept thinking over and over again, 'thank God that I'm here and I'm here because I want to be here. I'm not here just trying to save my big time job.'"

He added, that he "probably" should have been canned.

You already know by now that Don Imus gave an extended mea culpa at the outset of this morning's launch of the new "Imus in the Morning" - yes, that's the name - on WABC. But here's some more news that came out of the launch: He's got two new hosts joining the show, and yes, both African American. No surprise there - that was expected - but we can get you the names right now:

First, we've got Tony Powell, an East New York-born comic who's worked the Apollo and other area venues (here's his "resume"). Powell replaces Warner Wolf, who - to his consternation - was never "invited" to rejoin the reincarnated "I in the Morning." Reason was obvious: Imus wanted to make room for someone who would expand, if you will, his racial horizons and defuse the "he still doesn't get it" critics. Interesting side note: Powell's never done any broadcasting, best I can tell.

Here's what Powell says about himself on his site: "Growing up in East New York, Brooklyn, survival requires one of three things; you either have to be a great fighter, fleet of foot, or be a whole lotta funny. Let's just say, Tony Powell ain't no Ali or Carl Lewis, he is however, a whole lotta funny."

Next up, Karith Foster, Harlem-born, who's the "comic sidekick" we heard was going to join. Believe it or not, some people actually thought Wanda Sykes (!) was the new female co-host. Why the "!"? Well, clearly some of those folks who believed this had no idea who Sykes was; f'rinstance, when asked by Jay Leno about the "nappy headed ho" gaff of last spring, she said: "I thought Imus died like nine years ago."

Back to Foster, who was - I hate to admit, but professional courtesy demands - first reported by the NY Post this ayam. On her website, she writes:

"Despite her Texas roots, 'I'm really a Jewish girl from Long Island trapped in this body, which technically makes me a JA-AP [Jewish African-American Princess].'"

In fact, on the air this morning, she said she's actually from the South (Plano, Tx.).

Ten most fascinating people of the year? Ok, I suppose you could argue that Don Imus has to be one of them considering what took place last April AND considering his comeback this Monday.
In any event, Barbara Walters just announced that he'll officially join the list for next Thursday's big show (“Barbara Walters Presents: The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2007,” 10:02-11:00 pm.) And no - he's not the most fascinating, per Babs. That selection is usually kept under wraps until after the last commercial break.

Babs calls this his "first" interview since his April firing from the Fan, though there are no details about exactly what will come out of this encounter; it'll air three days after his WABC debut, so one assumes he'll talk about his co-host, assuming their is one as many now believe, and about his other efforts to broaden - so to speak - his horizons about race matters in this country.

Check this out: You too can turn up at the "historic" second (or is it third) act of one John Donald Imus when he kicks off his new WABC radio show on Dec. 3. Only conditions: You'll need to pay $100.

The show will launch from The Town Hall (on West 43rd Street, and not, of course, to be confused with City Hall a few dozen blocks further south...) with Levon Helm Band as special musical guest. Levon - as you know - was drummer for the Band, and is a DI favorite. Show starts at 6 a.m., and general admission is a hundred bucks. Donations go to Imus Ranch for Kids With Cancer. Arrive late - we're informed - and "you'll be seated during commercial breaks."

Still not buddies.

Al Sharpton was on "The Today Show" this morning, and he didn't sound like he was bubbling over with joy at the prospect of the new Don Imus babblefest on WABC. (It's expected to launch Dec. 3 but still no official word.) He was especially bugged with Citadel Broadcasting which (per our report last week) had still not met with the National Association of Black Journalists about its plans. He told Meredith Vieira that "we'll have to see where the arrangements with Citadel are in terms of the contract and whether there's a safeguard." He went on to say, "we've always said he has a right to work but we've always said we had a right not to support advertisers who support people who offend us. If they don't meet [with the NABJ] we can only assume they have a reason for not being forthcoming. Why wouldn't they meet if Mr. Imus was sincere...redemption comes with...full disclosure. We'll see if they're willing to fully disclose."

Mere asked, could it be good for race relations (or something like that) if he came back? Said Al: "Especially if they start off on a good foot, but right now they're flatfooted...They're not meeting with NABJ and they're not answering questions and we can only ask why..."

While not entirely certain, I think this is Rev. Al's first broadside at the new show; he may be saying the same thing on his daily radio outlet, but he's been noticeably reticent on Imus elsewhere in recent days - leading me to speculate here last week that he might even secure an ambassadorial host role on the new show. Hey - why not? Crazier things have happened, and it'd be a smart move by Imus/Citadel. But I'm starting to wonder whether Imus isn't in a conciliatory mood either.

Crazy? Yes, but crazier things have happened...

You know, all this business about Imus has gotten me thinking, which - as you are well aware - can be a dangerous thing.

Newsday has a big reax package today that I contributed to, but it failed - thankfully and reasonably - to embrace a pet theory I've been noodling over for the past few hours. And I lay it on you now:

What if Al Sharpton has a role on Imus's new syndicated radio show?

Crazy? Of course, but not entirely. Hear me out on this.

A week ago, Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post reported that Imus will almost certainly have an African-American co-host on his new program; one assumes we're not talking a Robin Quivers, who will laugh at his bad jokes, but a heavyweight, with perspective, opinions, thoughts, and (of course) ego of his or her own. You flip quickly through the list of obvious suspects - people like Tom Joyner, say, or Tavis Smiley, or even Clarence Page, who I think would make a terrific co because he was the one who told Imus to cut out his racist Sambo humor in the first place. After you're done flipping, you come to this interesting name:

Al Sharpton!

He's got his own radio show, of course, and it's reasonably successful, I imagine. Sharpton's also been notably silent as reports of Imus's return circulate, which automatically leads to suspicions: Why? He's not silent about anything. Why Imus all of a sudden? For all I know, he's been prattling about Imus on his daily show, but I doubt it. (I've got a call/emails to his communications chief at National Action Network, Rachel Noerdlinger, but so far no response. When I get her denial, will post it right here...) There's no business reason for reticence either that I can think of: Citadel, the strange, secretive Howard-Hughes-like radio fortress in Las Vegas that will syndicate Imus, does not own Radio One, Sharpton's syndicator.

I don't think Sharpton would necessarily be a good co-host, but a "contributor," or perhaps "correspondent" or maybe sometime-co-host. Daily proximity would probably want to make these guys kill each other, but an occasional relationship might make it bearable. Of course, you reasonably say this is a hare-brained scheme because Sharpton stuck the fork in Imus back in April. But maybe (just maybe) Imus has come to the realization that it was Imus who stuck the fork in himself, and that he really had no one to blame but himself all along. Get someone like Sharpton on board, and it makes him look magnanimous, enlightened, and builds a bridge to a community he spent thirty years ignoring (and occasionally, insulting.)

The best reason for this strange bedfellows association: It also instantly diffuses the political flak the new show is certain to raise; Citadel is largely controlled/owned by Disney, and the last time I checked, Disney does not covet political flak.

Anyway, we need a name: "Imus and Al in the Morning..."? "The Don and Al Show...?" "Don and Al: Together Again!" Any other suggestions?