CBS TV CEO and President Les Moonves didn't mince his words Tuesday.
"We have an awful lot to brag about in February," Moonves said off the top. Thanks to Survivor: The Australian Outback, the most watched show of sweep (28.8 million viewers) Moonves was singing a different sweep tune than usual. But in response to a report in the Wall Street Journal, that former President Bill Clinton called Moonves in an attempt to end a dispute between the network and producers Harry Thomason and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Moonves was all but mum.
In a prepared statement, Moonves said, "I've had numerous chats with President Clinton over the past few years, he is a friend of mine. No business decision has ever been made on the basis of a conversation with him. We have talked about many conversations, one of which was, `Hey Harry is our friend, be nice." On the XFL, Moonves said, "Obviously they are struggling in the ratings and it's certainly given our female oriented (Saturday) shows a chance to get going. But its NBC's issue. Moonves added, "I hope Jesse Ventura is a better Governor than he is an announcer."
On the programming front, Moonves announced that the network has ordered another two seasons of Monday comedy Everybody Loves Raymond from Worldwide Pants and HBO Independent Productions. - Joe Schlosser
