CBS Chief: We’re Gonna Get Letterman : Television: Jeff Sagansky says the network’s six-month pursuit of NBC’s late-night curmudgeon is ‘going to pay off.’

At a Monday news conference dominated by program announcements, one message from CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky rang clear: CBS fully expects David Letterman to leave NBC and take his late-night talk show to CBS.

“I’m very confident that we’re going to get David,” Sagansky told a surprised audience of TV writers and critics at a Santa Monica hotel during their winter press tour.

Just an hour earlier, CBS news anchor Dan Rather was telling those same reporters in a satellite news conference from New York that CBS would be pleased to end up with Letterman or Jay Leno, the two late-night hosts vying for the 11:35 p.m. “Tonight Show” time slot on NBC.

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“We’ve been pursuing (Letterman) for six months now, and I think it’s going to pay off,” Sagansky said. CBS reportedly first approached Letterman in 1991.

When one reporter asked what contingency plans CBS had in case Letterman stays with NBC, Sagansky said plainly: “We’re going to get him. We have no (other) plans.”

What is sure is that NBC has until Friday to match the reported $14-million annual salary CBS offered Letterman along with other concessions--although Sagansky said most of the press reports regarding the terms of CBS’ offer are “wrong.” He would not detail the inaccuracies.

Sagansky also shrugged off critics who say that many CBS affiliates would not dump profitable syndicated programming to make room for Letterman at 11:30 p.m.

“Obviously, we have talked to our affiliate body,” Sagansky said. “Our stations want Letterman.”

Should CBS land Letterman, the network’s late-night block of crime dramas would shift to an hour later at 12:30 a.m.

In other network news, Sagansky announced plans for a summer Western series called “Return to Plum Creek,” a spinoff of a previous TV film, “Ned Blessing.”

Overall, television’s top-rated network, which has become stronger this season in its regular weekly shows, will introduce only a handful of summer series.

“The strength of our schedule is the strength of our series,” Sagansky said. “That’s our big step forward this year.” Last season, CBS relied heavily on movies, specials and sports to become No. 1.

CBS also indicated it is putting more of a new spin on one of the most popular forms of programming--reunion specials of old TV series. Rather than just haul out aging cast members to host vintage clips from the show, CBS will increase its practice of updating the series’ characters in two-hour movies starring the original cast.

So far, Robert Culp and Bill Cosby have agreed to star in an update of their 1960s lighthearted drama “I Spy.” And Jack Klugman and Tony Randall will revisit their old sitcom “The Odd Couple” in a TV movie.

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Meanwhile, Sagansky made clear that the low-rated “Brooklyn Bridge,” now off the network schedule, is not dead, thanks largely to a grass-roots viewer-support campaign that has resulted in 6,000 cards and letters to the network. The remaining seven episodes of the nostalgic comedy series will be rescheduled in a strong time slot this spring rather than written off, Sagansky said.

Asked if he would consider returning the series in the fall if it does well in its new time period, Sagansky said: “Absolutely. Personally, it would give me no greater satisfaction than to renew that show.”

New movies and miniseries that CBS has in development include Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn in the film “To Dance With White Dog,” the Calamity Jane miniseries “Buffalo Girls” and a TV movie pairing Charles Bronson and Dana Delany as police detectives.