Doesn't Anybody Want To Talk To Cher?

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TV's booking wars used to mean vying for exclusive interviews with stars like Tom Cruise. Now the high-stakes battles are more likely to be over the people nobody knows--until they get caught up in front-page news stories. "Old-world bookers say, 'Look at my Rolodex--I know Henry Kissinger,'" says Bruce Perlmutter, senior executive producer of CNN's new Connie Chung Tonight. "New-world bookers get that what it's about now is who isn't in your Rolodex. They know how to track people down." A recent buffet of tabloid stories--kidnappings, a mine rescue, twins joined at the head--has put these bookers to the test and ratcheted up the competition. Last week NBC had to discipline a booker for buying a pair of $80 pants for one of two California girls who went on Today to tell of their escape from a kidnapper. Such gifts are generally frowned upon by the networks, but plenty of other practices aren't, such as sending flowers or paying for travel. And dirty tricks don't cost anything--like the Good Morning America booker who, a rival claims, impersonated a Today booker on the phone to grab an interview away from the NBC show. ABC denies it. Isn't this fun? --By Benjamin Nugent and Richard Zoglin