Thursday, March 2, 2000

Mom, not tabloids, exploited Kathie Lee's kids

Kathie Lee Gifford saying she's quitting "Live with Regis & Kathie Lee" to protect her children's privacy rings with that same clanging note of phony sincerity as Darva "It was creepy" Conger's claim that she entered the "Marry a Multimillionaire" pageant because she wanted a nice vacation.
   You just want to bop these women on their poofy bouffants.
   Gifford delivered her announcement about bolting the syndicated daytime talk show (seen at 9 a.m. weekdays on KIII) with all the gravitas of a head of state stepping down from office. In an apparently unscripted moment Tuesday morning, she turned to co-host Regis Philbin and solemnly said, "It's time."
   The look on Philbin's face was one of barely restrained glee. Reeg, riding high as the guy whose "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" took ABC to the top of the ratings again in February sweeps, just signed a $20 million deal to continue hosting the game show. He's expected to re-up his contract with "Live" with another six-zero deal, with or without Gifford. At this point, he needs her as a co-host like Martha Stewart needs cooking lessons.
   Philbin stayed quiet Tuesday and Wednesday mornings as Gifford, who's been with him on the show for 15 years, whined on-air about how "host chat," the 20-minute impromptu coffee klatch they engage in daily, has made her kids, Cody, 10, and Cassidy, 7, the topic of lurid tabloid tales.
   And whose fault is that?
   Since they were zygotes, Cody and Cassidy have been fodder for Gifford's act. She never hesitated to discuss every aspect of their privileged little lives, potty training included. She proudly paraded them on "Live" and on her annual Christmas specials. She wrote books about them, named charities for them, allowed their little bulldog faces to grace magazine covers. She got Cody a part in the Disney TV-movie "Model Behavior" (Mar. 12 on ABC) and recently let Cassidy do some runway modeling.
   No secrets
   If Gifford is upset at her family secrets making headlines, it's because she has never been able to keep from blabbing them to the world. She wept on "Live" when hubby Frank was caught cheating on her. When it was discovered that her Wal-Mart fashions were being sewn in Third World sweatshops by child labor, she pleaded her innocence on "Live." She used the show as a platform to vociferously defend the young Kennedy caught canoodling with his babysitter (Frank's daughter Victoria was divorced from Michael Kennedy, who later died in a skiing accident).
   Gifford talked about her family so often on "Live" that Philbin made a recurring comedy bit out of it, cueing a box a Kleenex to drop from the rafters every time she mentioned their names.
   In a phone conference Tuesday with TV critics to promote a cable sitcom he's producing, Howard Stern, who loves blasting Gifford as a self-serving hypocrite on his radio and TV shows, said he was thrilled to hear she was leaving her TV show.
   "She said she's doing it for her children. She wants to keep them out of the limelight. The only person putting them in the limelight is Kathie Lee. Take them off the magazine covers and off the Christmas specials, we'd never see Cody and Cassidy," said Stern.
   Of course, he didn't stop there. "As far as Regis goes, he's better off without her. Kathie Lee looks like a train hit her at this point."
   Less Kathie Lee, more Joy
   Gifford's leaving won't derail "Live," which is among the top five most-watched syndicated daytime shows, reaching just under 5 million viewers daily. It's already a huge moneymaker for the Disney Co., pulling in $30 million in license fees and up to $20 million in ad sales yearly. But replacing Gifford with a fresh face could give the show a boost of fresh energy. The show biz trades are already mentioning Philbin's wife Joy as a possible seat-filler (she's a frequent and very able guest host).
   And where will Gifford go? She's already found some success away from daytime, subbing for Letterman last week on "Late Show" and serving as Carol Burnett's once-a-week understudy in the Broadway musical "Putting It Together."
   For years she's talked about launching a primetime sitcom and lately has mentioned hosting a female-oriented talk show like "The View." But other daytime stars have made similar moves away from the show that brought them popularity and found it tough going.
   Two words for Kathie Lee to consider: Joan Lunden.
   "You're really walking away from what is probably the most coveted job in broadcasting history," Philbin told Gifford during Tuesday's telecast.
   That's probably true. And to use Kathie Lee's own words, it's time.
   Winning sweeps easy as A-B-C
   The final answer for ABC is that "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is unbeatable. The game show accounted for 18 percent of the network's primetime schedule during February sweeps, which end today, and helped take ABC to No. 1 among adults 18-49 for the month.
   It's the first sweeps victory for ABC since 1991, when it tied with NBC and CBS. ABC last won February sweeps among the young adult demos and total viewers in 1988, when family sitcoms "Who's the Boss?" and "Growing Pains" were big.
   Top-rated miniseries for February were the JonBenet drama "Perfect Murder, Perfect Town" on CBS and "The Beach Boys" on ABC. "Sally Hemings" and the Grammy telecast were also strong players for CBS. NBC's most-watched show was "ER," which landed the No. 1 spot for February (drawing 31.1 million viewers), just ahead of episodes of "Millionaire."
   Local stations use sweeps ratings to set ad rates.
  
  
  

 
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