Paula Zahn: In Running to Be Rather’s Co-Anchor?

TV or not TV. . . .

EARLY BIRD: Take a good look at Paula Zahn, co-anchor of “CBS This Morning.”

Usually, it’s Connie Chung and Lesley Stahl who come up when possible co-anchors for Dan Rather are mentioned.

But Zahn, in just a year on the job, has become CBS’ strongest morning-news personality since Diane Sawyer. She’s a bit more down-to-earth, too.

Whatever happens with the Rather newscast, CBS has a potential major new player for its future plans in Zahn. Example:

If you were up at the ungodly hour of about 4 a.m. last Friday, you saw her perform admirably on the Gulf War story.

It happened shortly after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein suggested he might withdraw from Kuwait. CBS broke in locally with a broadcast with Zahn and co-anchor Harry Smith.

She was in New York, Smith was in Saudi Arabia, and CBS’ Los Angeles station, KCBS Channel 2, blitzed the competition, which was showing reruns.

It was the better part of an hour, for instance, before ABC’s Peter Jennings popped up, looking as though he’d just dashed out of the shower.

Zahn, who was a KCBS anchor briefly a few years back before moving east because of her husband’s job, doesn’t have Chung’s name value--yet.

And she can’t match Stahl’s experience as a Washington beat reporter.

What Zahn needs is more individuality and attention-getting assignments to heighten her credibility--and show us if she’s really got the goods.

But take a look.

MORNING GLORY: Fascinating that the Rather and Tom Brokaw newscasts have both hired morning-show producers to help them catch up with Jennings’ “World News Tonight.”

Is it just a coincidence? Or does it mean that the once-stately nightly news programs are heading for the breezier style of the networks’ morning series?

Say it ain’t so.

In any case, NBC last year turned over its nightly news with Brokaw to Steve Friedman, former producer of “Today.” And CBS last week turned over its nightly news with Rather to Erik Sorenson, former producer of “This Morning.”

Smart guys, both.

Friedman survived a tour with the disastrous TV version of “USA Today.” And he’s brightened the Brokaw news without jazzing it up too much thus far.

Sorenson, meanwhile, survived a disastrous stretch at KCBS with the ill-fated, feature-crazy “news wheel” that rotated anchors every 20 minutes and covered everything but the news.

But both have done penance and now control the two nightly newscasts to which America once turned automatically--when Walter Cronkite was kingpin at CBS and the Huntley-Brinkley report identified NBC.

Keep an eye out, in any case, to see if the hard-news approach of Cronkite and Brinkley goes even softer than it already has--and if the influence of lightweight morning shows and local TV begin to subtly take hold.

NO BIZ LIKE NEWS BIZ: Media buffs can’t help but be intrigued by the fact that producer Susan Zirinsky, the model for the Holly Hunter character in “Broadcast News,” and Sorenson are described as “an elite team” by CBS News President Eric Ober.

Zirinsky has a hard-news reputation. But naturally, a jokester at CBS News phoned to say that William Hurt is set to replace Rather as the network’s nightly anchor.

Rather, by the way, seems so much more relaxed and natural when he’s out on assignment--in Saudi Arabia, for instance--rather than forced to play the standard anchor mannequin role.

He’s really a fine reporter. But after years of constant buffeting in the anchor seat--from ratings and controversial incidents--he often seems to be trying too hard to please. At times, it’s like watching a gifted actor in need of a director who knows how to channel his skills.

Would you believe, by the way, that next month marks 10 years since Cronkite relinquished his CBS anchor job and was replaced by Rather?

Promising he’d return, Cronkite wound up his sign-off broadcast by saying: “Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away, they just keep coming back for more. And that’s the way it is, Friday, March 6th, 1981. I’ll be away on assignment and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night.”

CBS, unfortunately, hasn’t used Cronkite nearly enough in his semi-retirement. The former anchor has let it be known that he’s not thrilled with the more featurized tone that network news has taken.

And CBS might well have avoided the ratings cellar if the network--and Rather--had more fully appreciated the sense of assurance that Cronkite’s presence transmits to viewers, and used him strategically in its overall planning.

Too late now.

HORSE RACE: “The Simpsons” is giving “The Cosby Show” all it can handle in their head-to-head competition. “Cosby” dropped to No. 16 in last week’s ratings. “The Simpsons” was 24th, but it’s doing remarkably considering the relatively small size of the Fox network that carries it.

HOME STRETCH: CBS is cleverly covering its flanks again as the February ratings sweeps head for the wire--carrying the Grammy Awards on Wednesday and the Miss America Pageant on Friday, normally two of its weakest nights.

CLOUT: That returning NBC series “Down Home,” with Judith Ivey, is produced by none other than Ted Danson of “Cheers.”

VANISHING ACT: So Fox and the TV academy have really decided to put on the Emmy Awards, already troubled in the ratings, in the dog days of August--once again. The date is Aug. 25, and be sure to rush home from the beach to watch it.

BEING THERE: “Senseless destruction is what war is all about.”--Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) in “MASH.”

Say good night, Gracie. . . .