20 20 Television Program

The Rev. Frederick K.C. Price may have two Bentleys, but a spokesman for his 22,000-member church says his Palos Verdes house doesn't boast 25 rooms and he definitely doesn't own a helicopter. A lawsuit Price filed Tuesday claims that ABC's "20/20" defamed him when it suggested otherwise, portraying him as a "hypocrite and thief" who financed an extravagant lifestyle with church funds.

Michael Jackson fans will get a couple of new things to chew on this weekend if they're channel surfing. On tonight's edition of "20/20," Barbara Walters sits down with LaToya Jackson for her first televised interview since her brother's death in June. It airs at 10 p.m. on ABC. Then on Sunday evening, during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the cable channel will premiere the trailer from "This Is It," the forthcoming film using footage from rehearsals for the concerts he was planning to stage in London.

ABC network news executives killed a story about alleged congressional malfeasance that was to have aired Friday night on the newsmagazine "20/20," prompting a censorship charge from the journalist who originated the probe. The story--which was based on a new book, "Inside Congress," by journalist Ronald Kessler--included allegations of sexual harassment against Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Palm Springs) and of sexual activities by other unnamed lawmakers. Bono has denied the charge.

Jenna Bush, the younger (by one minute) of President Bush's 25-year-old twin daughters, says she and other members of the family try their hardest to avoid the televised digs that abound about her father. "We don't watch that much television," she said.

The Glendale hospital worker who allegedly told police he killed 40 to 50 people will take his case to a nationwide television audience later this week. Officials with both the syndicated news magazine "EXTRA" and ABC's "20/20" said Monday that they will broadcast taped interviews with Efren Saldivar, the 28-year-old respiratory therapist who purportedly confessed to killing terminally ill patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

The Glendale hospital worker who allegedly told police that he killed 40 to 50 people will take his case to a nationwide television audience this week. Officials with ABC's "20/20" and the syndicated news magazine "Extra" said Monday they will broadcast taped interviews with Efren Saldivar, the 28-year-old respiratory therapist who purportedly confessed to killing terminally ill patients at Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

While ABC's entertainment division was unveiling its fall lineup Tuesday, the news division had a few announcements of its own, starting with veteran correspondent and anchor Elizabeth Vargas being named to replace Barbara Walters as co-host of "20/20" in September. Vargas, who has been anchoring the Sunday edition of "World News Tonight" since November, will join John Stossel on the long-running newsmagazine.

The story behind ABC News' heavily hyped interview with Monica Lewinsky tonight is turning out to be almost as fascinating as what the interview subject herself will have to say--especially since many highlights have already been leaked, from a tape that the network believes was stolen.

Lynn Murray, the producer responsible for an interview with what has proven to be a bogus Buckwheat on last Friday's installment of "20/20," resigned in a "mutual decision" with the network, an ABC News spokeswoman confirmed Thursday. Victor Neufeld, the program's executive producer, decided that Murray did not properly handle the research of a segment entitled "Whatever Happened to 'Our Gang'? " and that it would be best if she resigned, said Maurie Perl, the show's spokeswoman.

No one likes to feel redundant, especially household names. So ABC gathered a half-dozen anchors under one roof Thursday morning in a polished performance of network unity to launch the new version of its newsmagazine "20/20." The informal continental breakfast at ABC's sleek Manhattan headquarters wasn't much of an unveiling, however.

The Rev. Frederick K.C. Price may have two Bentleys, but a spokesman for his 22,000-member church says his Palos Verdes house doesn't boast 25 rooms and he definitely doesn't own a helicopter. A lawsuit Price filed Tuesday claims that ABC's "20/20" defamed him when it suggested otherwise, portraying him as a "hypocrite and thief" who financed an extravagant lifestyle with church funds.

For a brief time last spring, Elizabeth Vargas, pregnant and under pressure from her bosses, became a rallying point for feminists when she stepped down as co-anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight." Two and a half months after giving birth to her second child, Vargas returns to full-time duty at "20/20" tonight with a segment on the plight of working mothers, beginning with herself.

ABC's newsmagazine "20/20" pitches its hour on Matthew Shepard, airing tonight at 10, as an unflinching, demystifying look at the grisly killing of the gay University of Wyoming student whose death became a symbol of hate and homophobia in contemporary America. The details are stark enough: On Oct. 6, 1998, the 21-year-old Shepard was beaten and left tied to a split-rail fence for 18 hours in the frigid plains outside Laramie. He died five days later.

While ABC's entertainment division was unveiling its fall lineup Tuesday, the news division had a few announcements of its own, starting with veteran correspondent and anchor Elizabeth Vargas being named to replace Barbara Walters as co-host of "20/20" in September. Vargas, who has been anchoring the Sunday edition of "World News Tonight" since November, will join John Stossel on the long-running newsmagazine.

ABC News star Barbara Walters apologized on the air Wednesday after the network billed Friday's "20/20" special about adoption as "the ultimate reality show." The newsmagazine is devoted to the story of a 16-year-old Ohio mother choosing among five sets of prospective adoptive parents who want to raise her baby. Walters, the show's host, is herself an adoptive parent who has frequently covered adoption issues.

After 25 years in which she became synonymous with ABC's newsmagazine "20/20," Barbara Walters will leave the show in September, the network announced Sunday. In a statement on its website, ABC stressed that, while Walters is stepping down from the platform for which she is best known, she will remain at ABC and continue to produce "Barbara Walters Specials," including her annual Oscar-night show.

As network schedule-setting deadlines approached under a veil of secrecy in mid-May, producers and agents trying to ascertain where ABC would position series found themselves seemingly staring at a jigsaw puzzle with too many pieces. Unfortunately, the prime-time lineup that the network ultimately presented advertisers didn't make the picture much clearer: "NYPD Blue" and "20/20" both moving to Wednesday nights at 10 p.m.

ABC News which for years has filled at least three hours of the network's prime-time lineup and whose big-name anchors have historically wielded considerable clout over network scheduling--was rocked by word the division will at least temporarily be reduced to one hour in the fall. In the process, "20/20" will shift out of the Friday time slot the Barbara Walters-anchored program has occupied for more than a decade.