Pauley Signs On

The script at NBC was carefully plotted: Jane Pauley, 25, the corn-fed Catherine Deneuve who was the leading contender for a cut-down version of Barbara Walters' old job on the Today show, would join the program on Oct. 4--the same day, cunningly enough, that Million-Dollar Barbara started work at the ABC Evening News. That timing would have helped blunt the effect of ABC's extravagant promotion campaign to celebrate Walters' change of venue, and perhaps helped minimize NBC's embarrassment at losing television's No. 1 newswoman to a rival.

Due to technical difficulties beyond NBC's control, however, Pauley was not on hand Monday to serve Americans their morning cup of bad news. Neither NBC nor Pauley will say what went bump in the dawn. For weeks she had clearly been the favorite for the job (TIME, Sept. 13), and NBC had already agreed that she would not have to do commercials, which Walters did.

Pauley, the talk went, just might have been holding out for more money after she heard what NBC last week offered Kelly Lange, the barmy blonde weather girl at the network's Los Angeles station and an also-ran for the Today job. What actually happened, however, was that NBC officials went into a lather when they learned that Lange was being lured by the ABC body-snatchers who had stolen Walters from them. The network's brass hurriedly rushed into prolonged negotiations and promised to double Lange's salary, to $200,000, and give her a series of spots on Today if she would stay. She would. Meanwhile, the Pauley negotiations had been sidetracked. When they resumed, Pauley, who now makes $55,000 --scarcely a year after leaving Indianapolis for the bright studio lights of Chicago's WMAQ-TV--did not do too badly. Money, she insisted, was "irrelevant. I don't think I've been in this business long enough to worry about money." Not everyone believed that, least of all Ralph Mann, the sharp-penciled lawyer she hired from International Creative Management to represent her in negotiations with NBC.

Aunt Martha. At week's end NBC finally came up with a six-figure package that may not make her as rich as Walters, but certainly would give her a good shove toward that goal. Pauley accepted, and the network announced that she would take up her duties Oct. 11. Tom Brokaw was elated: "She's bright and enterprising and engaging, and she just happens to be pretty." Barbara Walters was gracious: "It's unfair to be called the next Barbara Walters. I hope she'll be herself." Jane Pauley was. Said she: "I'm going to Indianapolis to install my two cats with my Aunt Martha."

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