TELEVISION - Dec. 14, 1992

Fence Mending: Jay Leno is still reaching out to heal wounds that were inflicted during the tumultuous first few months of his reign as host of “The Tonight Show.” At the conclusion of his monologue Friday night, he paid tribute to “the man who made this program what it is” by showing tape of his predecessor, Johnny Carson, receiving the Medal of Freedom from President Bush earlier that day. One of the things for which Leno was criticized when he replaced Carson last May was his failure to acknowledge on the air any sense of gratitude or respect for the former “king of late-night television.”