Bye to the Chief

-- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/11/2000

Maybe you think it's just the end of the Clinton Administration. But, for CBS, the Dec. 27 broadcast of the The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts is the last one at which Bill and Hillary Clinton will have the center booth at Kennedy Center, where they've sat for the past eight years The show ends with a retrospective from the previous shows (only President Reagan has presided over as many). This year, the Kennedy Center awards go to Mikhail Baryshnikov, Chuck Berry, Placido Domingo, Clint Eastwood and Angela Lansbury, but of course television-savvy viewers will spot CBS execs like Les Moonves and Mel Karmazin in the good seats. Used to be television wasn't technically rated during Christmas week. It is now, and this upscale special sets no Nielsen records, but it's probably the classiest thing on the tube all year long.