Jane Pauley

Among the many rareified accomplishments to which the cartoonist Garry Trudeau can lay claim -- a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, a cartoon strip that runs in more than 1,400 newspapers, a 20-year marriage to Jane Pauley -- perhaps the most revealing is this one: Trudeau is surely the only person to have had one of his books prefaced with an essay by the arch-conservative William F. Buckley Jr. (Doonesbury's Greatest Hits: A Mid-Seventies Revue, Holt,...

Founded: 1820. Location: Bloomington, Ind. Enrollment: 30,157 undergraduates. Tuition and fees: $4,735 in-state, $14,469 out-of-state. Famous alumni: NBC's Dateline anchor Jane Pauley; violinist Joshua Bell; actor Kevin Kline; Secretary of Treasury Paul O'Neill; Secretary of Education Rodney Paige; sportscaster Dick Enberg. Academic ranking: No. 28 among public national universities, according to U.S. News & World Report (September 2001). School colors: Red and white. Nickname: Hoosiers.

Sexist attitudes and behavior at NBC News' "Today" show by Bryant Gumbel and top male NBC executives led to the program's steep fall from favor in morning TV, according to charges in a new book by a former "Today" talent booker.Judy Kessler's "Inside Today: The Battle for the Morning" describes what she says were Mr. Gumbel's abusive language and actions toward women; his frequent reference to co-host Jane Pauley, using an obscene anatomical term; and his all-male locker-room-like meetings from which Ms. Pauley and "Today" women staffers were excluded.

Katie Couric's farewell Wednesday was seen by one of the largest audiences in the recent history of NBC's Today show. The three-hour telecast drew an average audience of 8.4 million viewers - compared to the morning show's usual audience of 5.8 million viewers. Couric's finale ranks as the fourth highest-rated single Today telecast since the introduction of Nielsen People Meters in 1987 - the technology on which audience estimates for Wednesday's program is based. Ranking ahead of it are telecasts on the mornings following the 1989 San Francisco earthquake (8.5 million viewers)

NBC is bringing two Oscar winners -- and returning one of the medium's most popular stars -- to weekly television next fall. But some longtime favorites will be missing from the top-rated network's regular lineup for the 1991-'92 season.James Garner, star of the old "Rockford Files," will return in "Man of the People," a comedy series about a con artist named to fill a city council seat. Academy Award-winner Marlee Matlin will play a hearing-impaired assistant district attorney in "Reasonable Doubts," a dramatic series about Chicago's criminal justice system.

The Fox network previews a new kids' anthology show tonight, Mary Tyler Moore is on "Dateline NBC," and the offbeat comedy troupe known as The State, from MTV, breaks into network prime time with a Halloween special.* "Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WBFF, Channel 45) -- An hour-long special launches an anthology series to air regularly on Friday afternoons. Based on the children's book series by R. L. Stine, the first edition tells the story of a young girl who dons a mask to scare the boys who humiliated her. Fox.* "Dateline NBC" (9 p.m.-10 p.m., WBAL, Channel 11)

Mary Louise Smith, 82, a moderating force within the GOP who was the only woman to have chaired the Republican National Committee, died Friday in Des Moines, Iowa. She had lung cancer.Ms. Smith, known for her support of abortion rights, chaired the RNC from 1974 to 1977. In 1976, she became the first woman to organize and call to order the National Convention of a major American political party.Rolf Knie, 75, a master elephant trainer who led Switzerland's foremost circus family for half a century, died of heart failure Monday.

DALLAS - Jay Leno, the king of the late-night ratings and an inveterate creature of habit, is in no big rush to expand his horizons. His basic routine is threefold and on hold. No. 1: Play the role of host on NBC's The Tonight Show with as little vacation time as possible. No. 2: Tinker with a vast collection of motorcycles and cars while wearing his trademark off-camera garb of blue denim shirt and jeans. No. 3: Perform upward of 120 off-camera standup gigs every year. Really, who could ask for anything more?

No more "Picket Fences" after tonight. Enjoy it while you can."Nightly Business Report" (7 p.m.-7: 30 p.m., MPT, Channels 22 and 67) -- Correspondent Darren Gersh reports on efforts to improve the quality and efficiency of the managed health-care industry -- a hot topic, with traditional health care becoming a dinosaur in modern corporate America. PBS."Where Are They Now? Part 2" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Ever wonder what happened to the Von Trapps (You know, "The hills are alive with the sound of music," and all that)

The ax has started to fall on the new programs as NBC moves to stem the hemorrhaging of viewers it is experiencing on Friday and Sunday nights.Already announced was the cancellation of the network's two news shows -- "Real Life with Jane Pauley" and "Expose" -- which will be replaced on Fridays at 8 o'clock by "Matlock."The network claims that the news programs will be combined into a single hour show that will return to the schedule in March. This is just the latest in a seemingly endless line of vain attempts by NBC to find success in the prime time news business that adds so much cash to the bottom line of the news divisions at CBS with "60 Minutes" and "48 hours," and ABC with "20/20" and "Prime Time Live."