JOAN RIVERS: PART-TIME HOST NOW?

Comedienne Joan Rivers, star of Fox Broadcasting Co.’s much-publicized first programming effort, “Late Night With Joan Rivers,” appeared Friday to be headed out as the late-night talk show’s regular host.

Fox executives would neither confirm nor deny reports that a decision to relegate Rivers to part-time hosting duties had been made, but her publicist said that she had received a phone call Thursday informing her that she would no longer be the primary host.

“She will be associated with the show, but whether she’ll be here Monday is another question. . . .,” Brad Turell, vice president of Fox publicity, told a reporter. “She is not getting fired. We’re not looking to get out of her contract.”

According to Rivers’ publicist, Joe Bleeden, Rivers will most likely still appear on the seven-month-old show as host on a rotating basis. Her position on the show would resemble the arrangement Rivers used to have as guest host for her current late-night competitor, Johnny Carson of NBC’s “Tonight Show.”

Bleeden said that Rivers, who was once championed by Fox Chairman Barry Diller as “the one person” capable of hosting Fox’s late-night show, was informed of Fox’s decision on Thursday via telephone.

The decision comes while Rivers’ three-year, $10 million contract with Fox is under negotiation, a Fox spokesman confirmed.

It also comes as Fox is fighting to establish its Sunday-night lineup of original programming on a network of about 100 independent stations around the country. The company said Thursday it had decided to postpone the introduction of a Saturday block of programming from May 30 until July 11.

Jamie Kellner, president and chief operating officer of Fox Broadcasting, said Friday that an official decision about the “Late Night” show had not been made yet, but would be made within the next several days.

“The only thing I have to say is that Joan Rivers has been very helpful in launching the Fox Broadcasting Co.; it’s a very difficult job to do and she has done an admirable job,” he said.

Asked to confirm or deny reports that Rivers’ show would be redesigned to include rotating hosts, Kellner said: “If that’s the way it ends up, that’s fine with me, because I think it’s a good idea.”

Asked if that decision wasn’t his to make, he said, “I really can’t say.”

Ratings would appear to be the most likely factor in considering a new format for the Rivers show. Among syndicated shows, “Late Night” was rated 70th last fall; by February this year, it had dropped to 124th place.

Bleeden, however, expressed surprise at the timing of the decision, saying that Rivers’ program had recently beaten “The Tonight Show” in the New York ratings for the third time and also had beaten it in Washington and San Francisco for the first time.

Rivers shocked her mentor, Carson, when she made the decision last year to go up against his show on “Late Night”; Carson first learned about it in a press release. Carson spokesman Jim Mahoney called Rivers’ move “an unusual way to do business, to say the least,” and Carson often joked wryly about his new competition during his NBC show.

Carson said Friday through public-relations spokesman Sean Mahoney, “Provided what we’ve heard is true, I’ve had no comment since she went on the air, and I have no comment now that she’s leaving.”

Rivers’ debut last October launched Fox’s bold plan to establish a new network that would challenge ABC, CBS and NBC in well-chosen time periods with original programming on stations that traditionally had competed with old movies and reruns. It was followed by the introduction of a block of Sunday programs in April.

Kellner said in a telephone interview Friday that strong Sunday-night programming from the networks in recent weeks had kept Fox’s fledgling line-up from receiving the attention it deserved, prompting the decision to hold back its Saturday shows.

He said that the month of June, when the networks traditionally show reruns, would give Fox the chance to “raise our (Sunday) programs up in front of the people more.”

As an expression of faith in the Sunday lineup, Fox said it was renewing four of the five series for fall: “21 Jump Street,” “Married . . . With Children,” “The Tracey Ullmann Show” and “Duet.”

Fox’s remaining Sunday-night show, “Mr. President,” only debuted May 3, so no decision has been made about it yet, Turell said.

“We did not feel that we had done a good enough job yet promoting the Sunday line-up,” Kellner said. “We’re very pleased and proud and excited at the quality of those shows, and we wanted to increase the size of the audience on Sunday night.

“What it really just says is that we’re a flexible company; we have the ability to add new shows when the time is right. We have done no consumer advertising of the Saturday shows, so we’re not disappointing the viewers by changing our plans.”

Kellner added that the July 11 Saturday schedule, which includes “Werewolf,” “Beans Baxter,” “Karen’s Song” and “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” will be the same as was originally planned for May 30.