Tavis Smiley

The Early Show Dennis Quaid; Marcus Samuelsson. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Kitty Kelley. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; Dr. Oz discusses back pain. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Regis and Kelly Megan Mullally; Jane Lynch. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Stacy and Steve Trebing. (N) 10 a.m. KABC The Doctors A test that determines ovarian health; ways to ensure fertility for as long as possible. (N) 11 a.m. KCAL Rachael Ray Carol Burnett.

Everywhere Tavis Smiley travels around Southern California these days, people stop him with concerned expressions on their faces. He says they wonder about his nightly talk show and blow off some steam about KCET-TV Channel 28, the major Los Angeles PBS outlet for 40 years and Smiley's home studio for the last seven, which is exiting the public-broadcasting network just five weeks from now. "If the viewer in Southern California, if the viewer in...

The Early Show John Lithgow; "The Amazing Race." (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today (N) 7 a.m. KNBC KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA Good Morning America Director Tom Ford; Jenny McCarthy; Ray Romano; Bill O'Reilly. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV Live With Regis and Kelly Guest co-host Bryant Gumbel; Ray Romano; John Lithgow. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Kyra Sedgwick ("The Closer"); author Dr. Mehmet Oz ("You: Having a Baby")

The Early Show Neil Patrick Harris; chef Bill Telepan; authors Manisha Thakor and Sharon Kedar. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Jennifer Lopez; President Bill Clinton; Craig Robinson; Julianne Moore. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Vanessa Williams; Alyssa Milano. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Regis and Kelly Sharon Osbourne; Train performs; the hosts kick off Spring Into Gardening Week. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Neil Patrick Harris; Alyssa Milano; journalist Megyn Kelly.

Sheryl Flowers, 42, a producer for Tavis Smiley's programs on Public Radio International and National Public Radio, died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She had breast cancer. Flowers was also director of communications for the Smiley Group, which announced her death. From 2004 until last month she was executive producer of "The Tavis Smiley Show" on PRI, and from 2002 to '04 she was senior supervising producer of the show on NPR. The news and information show hosted by Smiley is produced in Los Angeles and airs on 90 stations around the country, including KPCC-FM (89.3)

Almost three years after being fired from his nightly talk show at Black Entertainment Television in a controversy with his then-boss, commentator and author Tavis Smiley will launch a national late-night talk show on PBS. "Tavis Smiley," billed as the first West Coast talk show for PBS, will originate from KCET Studios in Hollywood starting in January, and will be paired weeknights with the network's long-running "The Charlie Rose Show."

PULL up a chair. Whet your appetite with a glass of ice-cold lemonade, and settle back as Tavis Smiley tells you about his growing-up years. The popular TV and radio talk-show host and social activist has become a media personality, thanks to his many on-the-air interviews, including his recent exclusive talk with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. He's also the author of several books, including "Keeping the Faith: Stories of Love, Courage, Healing, and Hope From Black America."

The way Tavis Smiley sees it, one challenge of being an African American broadcasting pioneer is striking a balance between reaching a broad audience and remaining, as he calls it, "authentically black." Another challenge is getting up for work at 2:30 a.m. Starting Monday, Southland listeners will get two chances a day to hear how he does it, when his 5-month-old, hourlong show debuts on KPCC-FM (89.3) and KCRW-FM (89.9).

Even for Tavis Smiley, whose normal pace approaches fast-forward, the tempo has tangibly quickened. He has been hitting a city a day for the past three weeks, promoting his new book, "Hard Left: Straight Talk about the Wrongs of the Right." After a day back home in Los Angeles for a book signing, he was off to Washington to debate conservative icon Oliver North and black conservative Armstrong Williams on talk radio. His book tour has been extended to include repeat stops in several cities.

BARRELING through a staff meeting one morning in his Crenshaw Boulevard offices, Tavis Smiley suddenly stops and stares at a copy of Jet magazine. It has a story about Smiley's "The Covenant With Black America," which was a surprise hit earlier this year. What stops Smiley in his tracks is his photo. "Where'd they get that picture?" he asks his staff.

The Early Show Breaking up. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Kate Gosselin; Khloé Kardashian; Mary Higgins Clark. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Michael J. Fox; Demi Moore. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Regis and Kelly Demi Moore; Hilary Duff. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Lauren Hutton; Kelly Osbourne. (N) 10 a.m. KABC The Doctors Skin cancer. (N) 11 a.m. KCAL The Martha Stewart Show Rachel Maddow. (N) 2 p.m. KNBC The Bonnie Hunt Show Balthazar Getty; the Backstreet Boys.

The Early Show Dennis Quaid; Marcus Samuelsson. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Kitty Kelley. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; Dr. Oz discusses back pain. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Regis and Kelly Megan Mullally; Jane Lynch. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Stacy and Steve Trebing. (N) 10 a.m. KABC The Doctors A test that determines ovarian health; ways to ensure fertility for as long as possible. (N) 11 a.m. KCAL Rachael Ray Carol Burnett.

SERIES America's Next Top Model: The contestants pose as vampires in a blood-filled bathtub in this new episode (8 p.m. KTLA). American Masters: Architect I.M. Pei designs a museum to house the antiquities of Suzhou, China, where he grew up, in the new episode "I.M. Pei: Building China Modern" (9 p.m. KCET). Shear Genius : In this new episode, the four remaining competitors travel to a Hollywood Hills home to style their first celebrity client in this new episode (10 p.m. Bravo)

Toward the end of a mostly compelling and occasionally moving new documentary, Cornel West does his best to puncture the image of a benign and nonconfrontational Martin Luther King Jr. West rejects what he calls the "Santa Clausification" of King, fuzzy myth-making that the African American scholar says is "one of the ways in which you defang and domesticate people who are on fire for justice." "MLK: A Call to Conscience" works best when it tends to the words of the provocative West -- revealing a King who was both more troubled, more radical and, yes, even more courageous than standard hagiography typically has allowed.

The Early Show Chef Marcus Samuelsson. (N) 7 a.m. KCBS Today Barenaked Ladies perform; Mary McCormack; Alfred Molina; gadgets. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Usher; Miley Cyrus and Nicholas Sparks; Lucille O'Neal. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Regis and Kelly Guest co-host Kara DioGuardi; Kelsey Grammer. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Bernadette Peters; David Frei. 10 a.m. KABC The Doctors Sexually transmitted diseases and how to ensure one's children practice safe sex. (N)

Today Dr. Drew Pinsky; Andrew Shue; Gene Simmons; Dave Mizejewski. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC Good Morning America Joannie Rochette; Emeril Lagasse; Friday Faith roundtable. (N) 7 a.m. KABC Live With Regis and Kelly Guest co-host Kyle MacLachlan; Edie Falco; Joseph Fiennes. (N) 9 a.m. KABC The View Jason Wu; Kristi Yamaguchi; Evan Lysacek. (N) 10 a.m. KABC The Martha Stewart Show Toni Collette ("United States of Tara"). (N) 2 p.m. KNBC The Bonnie Hunt Show Lisa Kudrow; Nick Kroll; author Laurie Ann Levin.

Toward the end of a mostly compelling and occasionally moving new documentary, Cornel West does his best to puncture the image of a benign and nonconfrontational Martin Luther King Jr. West rejects what he calls the "Santa Clausification" of King, fuzzy myth-making that the African American scholar says is "one of the ways in which you defang and domesticate people who are on fire for justice." "MLK: A Call to Conscience" works best when it tends to the words of the provocative West -- revealing a King who was both more troubled, more radical and, yes, even more courageous than standard hagiography typically has allowed.

At a popular Crenshaw Boulevard hot dog stand, national political commentator and talk show host Tavis Smiley was busy giving his take on success. "You can't really enjoy success unless you've had some failure," he said, jabbing a dog in the air. "It's the failures that make the successes all the more sweeter." Smiley remembers the bitter taste of failure.