Musical Chairs, Vietnam & Star Jones

By Keith Boykin, in pop culture
Thursday, June 1 2006, 10:32AM

What do George Bush, Katie Couric and Star Jones-Reynolds have to do with each other?

It all started during the Vietnam War. That's when George Bush suspiciously escaped to the Alabama Air National Guard and allegedly used his father's connections to avoid the draft. More than a decade later in 1988, George's father was president and got into a heated nationally televised altercation with CBS News Anchorman Dan Rather. That left some bad blood in the Bush family. It all came full circle in September 2004, when CBS Anchor Dan Rather carried and defended a controversial story that alleged that young George W. Bush, now the president, had dodged the draft. With a president and a former president against him, that was the beginning of the end for Dan Rather at CBS News.

But as one door closes, another opens. Rather's departure from CBS created a golden opportunity for a major shakeup. ABC's Peter Jennings had passed away from lung cancer and NBC's Tom Brokaw was already scheduled to step down from the anchor chair to make way for the specially groomed Brian Williams. That left CBS holding onto the past with Dan Rather. What's all this got to do with Star Jones? The plot thickens.

From Dan Rather to Katie Couric

Rather's departure as the CBS anchor forced the network to scramble for a replacement who could compete against the other big nets. Brian Williams was already riding on the coattails of sentimentalism for Tom Brokaw, and ABC made the bold new move of hiring a woman to be the co-anchor of the news.

It was not the first time ABC had tried co-anchors. Barbara Walters, herself a former "Today Show" host, had co-anchored ABC's evening news with Harry Reasoner in 1976, and ABC was the first major network to hire a black anchor when Max Robinson sat in the co-anchor chair from Chicago in the 1980s. But CBS had never hired a woman or an African American to sit in its prestigious anchor chair.

Enter Katie Couric. With her contract up for renewal with "The Today Show," word spread that CBS was interested in "America's sweetheart" for its anchor position. It was a bold move to transform Dan Rather's hard-edged CBS News team with the softer, younger and more female-friendly image of Katie Couric. But would Katie accept? Yes, according to sources, who speculated on the transition for months before it was officially announced. They were right. But with Couric gone from "Today," who would sit next to Matt Lauer?

From Meredith Vieira to Rosie O'Donnell

Enter Meredith Vieira, the co-host of the ABC daytime television show, "The View." Vieira was hired to take over from Katie, which left an opening on "The View."

Enter Rosie O'Donnell. O'Donnell was picked to take over from Vieira at "The View." But there was one problem. O'Donnell and "View" co-host Star Jones-Reynolds reportedly hated each other. After Jones-Reynolds lost an enormous amount of weight without disclosing how she did it, many speculated that the former lawyer had gone under the knife for some kind of weight reduction surgery. Jones-Reynolds, however, wasn't telling, maintaining instead that she valued diet and exercise as a part of her fitness routine.

Rosie O'Donnell, still a big woman herself, wasn't buying Star Jones's explanation. "I'd like to see that bitch do a push-up," she scoffed. Thus began -- or accelerated -- a conflict between the two divas. Word quickly spread that Jones was shown the door by "View" producer Barbara Walters, who you recall was one of the first network anchors. Reports of a departure have not been confirmed but Jones-Reynolds is reportedly selling her Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan.

And here we are today. Diane Sawyer, a co-anchor of "Good Morning America" with Charles Gibson, appeared as a guest on "The View" today and hugged Meredith Vieira to welcome her aboard the morning news business. Sawyer herself seems to have been passed over by both networks for the coveted anchor positions. Despite her ties to CBS, she wasn't picked for Dan Rather's old position. And when ABC's Elizabeth Vargas announced recently that she was stepping down from the anchor chair for maternity leave, ABC picked Sawyer's morning show co-host Gibson to be the sole anchor of "World News Tonight." It's a rough business out there.

And this is how it ends for now. A longtime conflict between Dan Rather and the Bush family has led into a new conflict between two powerful women of 2006. So what's next? Will Rosie O'Donnell and Star Jones-Reynolds bury the hatchet and share the spotlight? Will Star be kicked off "The View" and replaced with Oprah's best friend Gayle King? Why is Barbara Walters sitting in on "The View" today? And whatever happened to Dan Rather? Those questions and more will be answered in the next episode of...

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