People

By Guy D. Garcia

"ABC television network, your services, such as they are, will no longer be required as of 12/20/86 -- Jimmy Breslin." So read the three-line advertisement on the front page of the New York Times last week. Only eight weeks after the premiere of his critically acclaimed late-night talk show, Jimmy Breslin's People, the feisty Pulitzer-prizewinning columnist became, as he put it, "the first person in America to fire a network." Breslin had been miffed that abc aired his show at odd hours, as late as 2 a.m. in some markets, including his hometown of New York City. abc responded to Breslin's snub by declaring it had already announced its intention the preceding Friday to pull out of late nightchatter competition by canceling both the columnist's show and one featuring Dick Cavett. The network said, however, it had not been able to locate Breslin in time to deliver the bad news. Says the combative newspaperman: "Most people grovel in front of the networks. Here was somebody telling them exactly what to do, and they just don't understand. They act like they're personally insulted."