People

By Sara C. Medina

For weeks she had ducked questions about her future plans -- and then there she was for millions to view, on the Phil Donahue show. Linda Ellerbee, the tart-tongued Texan beloved by night-owl viewers from her days on nbc News Overnight and by early-morning types because of her popular "T.G.I.F." feature each week on Today, had quit the network in a salary dispute. She was known to be dickering with ABC, and CBS had offered her the co-anchor slot on its perennially low-rated but soon-to-be-overhauled Morning News. Now word was out: she was on the verge of signing with ABC, reportedly at a hefty salary hike, to be co-host on Our World, a new documentary program that will go up against NBC's top-rated Cosby Show on Thursday evenings; "T.G.I.F." will probably air on Good Morning America, and she may also co-anchor a late-night show. Plenty to talk about, it seemed, but a right-of-refusal clause in her old NBC contract allowed the network to match any new offer. So Ellerbee, 41, uncharacteristically kept her mouth shut.