The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 93

OVERNIGHT SUCCESS TOOK 30 YEARS Author samples posh neighborhoods en route to 'Best' "To Be the Best" glitters past A us met this these week, people we suspect before. we've They live well and dress better. Their lives unfold in tall buildings, each in a different country. The miniseries the third chapter in the saga of Emma Harte's family and their business empire premieres at tonight at 8 and concludes Tuesday on CBS, going head-to-head with the Olympics. It seems to have the characters who have populated so many highglitz minis and series.

Even some of the actors Lindsay Wagner, former "Dynasty" stars Stephanie Beacham and Christopher Cazenove are the same. The stories may seem identical, but the people who write them aren't. What makes Barbara Taylor Bradford the "To Be the Best" author successful? As it happens, Bradford has been to those places and met those people. Before finishing her first novel, she'd sampled some of the world's fancier neighborhoods. "Of course, I'm an overnight success," she says, "but it took me 30 years to get there." That was the time between selling her first piece to a hometown newspaper (for three shillings and six pence, roughly $1.85) and finishing her first novel, at age 42.

By MIKE HUGHES LANSING STATE JOURNAL ON TV "To Be the Lindsay Wagner and Anthony Hopkins star in a saga of the Harte family and their department store empire. Tonight and Tuesday, CBS at 8 p.m. "I started four novels," Bradford says, "but I never finished them. I'd get to page 195 or 200 and realize they weren't right." That changed a decade ago. "I was working on yet another novel that I wasn't going to finish," she says, "then I just stopped and spent a day asking myself, 'What kind of book do you really want to The answer? "I wanted to write an old-fashioned English saga." This would be an epic, the kind of story that sweeps across a lifetime.

"A Woman of Substance" watched young Emma Harte build an empire of glossy department stores. It sold 14 million copies and gave Bradford her favorite character. "I wish I'd never knocked Emma off." There were two sequels, giving the empire to Emma's granddaughter, Paula. Other novels have been sandwiched between, but the "Substance" trilogy is what brought Bradford to TV. In the first miniseries, Deborah Kerr was the old Emma and Jenny Seagrove was the young one.

In Paula Harte (Lindsay Wagner) visits the grave of her grandmother in "'To Be the "Hold the Dream," Seagrove was back as Paula. Now comes "To Be the Best," the first done with a U.S. network. Bradford says that makes a difference, because "they wanted to be sure there would be some names that were familiar to their So Seagrove was out and Wagner was in. The "Dynasty" people were there; so was Anthony Hopkins.

That's the same Hopkins who has an Academy Award and general esteem. He plays security chief Jack Figg, in a development that leaves even Bradford surprised. "Strangely enough, Jack Figg was only a minor character in my book," she says. The book had major plot twists in Australia, which would have stretched the travel budget too far. So the script lumped most of them into London and Hong Kong; the latter is where Figg works, doing everything from unraveling schemes to karate-chopping thugs.

Some novelists would howl at such changes. Bradford is tolerant, however, because she: Had her own chance once, writing the "Hold the Dream" script. "That was my first script ever and my Is married to the mini's producer, Robert Bradford. Understands the importance of a balanced budget. She controls her films, signing others (CBS this time) as coIn short, Bradford like the strong-hearted Emma Harte has gone far.

She grew up in Yorkshire, England, in a working-class setting. Her mother, a nurse and nanny, had a quick impact. "My mother was a voracious reader," Bradford says. "She forcefed all this to me. I was exposed to all the things that she loved books, art and theater." KCCI dancing the limbo; WOT's Gullette pulling double duty t's catch-up time.

FINE TUNING After spending several weeks in La-La Land previewing this fall's new TV shows, it's time to check in with what has been going on in the real world central Iowa TV and radio. The biggest news appears to be no news on two news fronts. KCCI still has not made an official decision on whether to air a 5 p.m. weeknight newscast. News director Dave Busiek says he doesn't know when a decision will come.

It doesn't take much to read between the lines. KCCI is in a state of limbo, waiting to find out if the station's pending sale to Young Broadcasting Inc. will go through Stations always are wary of making big programming decisions involving big bucks and major staff changes until consulting with new owners. Meanwhile, Young's bid to swallow the entire Communications Inc. TV station group, which includes KCCI, continues to be stalled over financial concerns.

KCCI insiders appear eager to jump into the 5 p.m. news fray IN LOVING MEN Of EMMA HART night newscast. It certainly has the time slot available, now that "A Current Affair" will move to KCCI starting Aug. 31. General manager Tom MacArthur was out of town last week attending a meeting of the minds with other managers from the River City Broadcasting TV station group.

Local news probably was one of the subjects on the agenda. WOl, like its rival KCCI, also is in limbo while it waits to see if the station's pending sale to Citadel Communications goes through. It looks as if the courts are likely to decide how this soap opera is settled. News director Ken Gullette says he doesn't think his department is in limbo, citing the appointment of three new anchors. Rod Fowler has taken over for Dennis Douda as co-anchor on WOI's 5 and 10 p.m.

weeknight newscasts. Fowler has been with the station since 1987 and has anchored the early morning and midday newscasts before this promotion. Taking over for Fowler on the morning -newseast is Renee Starzyk, Soon, Barbara Taylor was doing her own writing. At 16, she was editing the feature section of her local newspaper; at 20, she was ready for magazines and London. She sampled the vibrant social scene of London in the early Beatles era.

She met and married Bradford, an American who was producing French-English films. They moved to New York, bringing another culture shock. "I think Americans are faster on the draw and everything is she says. For a dozen years, she had a decorating column that was syndicated to 160 papers. She wrote seven books on the subject.

What she didn't write or at least finish was her novel. The stories kept sputtering. Their time would come. Emma Harte was on the way, bringing a world of pretty people and popular places. who continues her duties as COanchor of the midday newscast.

Gullette also looked inside his staff when it came time to replace Fowler on the midday newscast. He hired a former reporter-anchor he knows quite well, Ken Gullette. "I haven't anchored for years, and I think it's a great opportunity for me," said Gullette. Actually, Gullette has been off the air for two weeks while recovering from facial injuries suffered in a bicycle crash. He plans to be back on the air this week.

The news director anchoring a newscast? It used to happen a lot on local TV news, but that trend has faded. In many cases these days, it usually indicates a news operation that is short-handed, short on budget or in transition such as awaiting the outcome of a sale. "We're not short-handed," counters Gullette. "I've always liked to provide an opportunity at a station where you can do all you want to Wetry not to limit anybody here." While he is enthusiastic about promoting Fowler, Gullette says it is tough attracting outside candidates when the fate of the TV station is up in the air. "It would have been tough to attract someone on a national level, considering the station situation," he says.

"We did have some interest from outside candidates. It's not as if we were in a desperate situation. We felt Rod was the best choice for us at the moment. I have a lot of confidence in him." Dave RHEIN against WHO-TV and WOL-TV, even if it means moving the popular game show "Jeopardy" to 4:30 p.m., where there's a good chance its now solid ratings would be crippled by the second half of Translation: KCCI's chances of having a 5 p.m. newscast on the air when the fall TV season begins next month are a long shot at best.

KDSM-TV also continues to mull whether to introduce a 9 p.m. week- SCRIBBLES SCRAPS Don Tool, a longtime veteran of the Des Moines radio wars, is back in town after a three- absence. He is the general manager at all-news KBBM-FM (99.5). Before leaving in 1989 for radio jobs in Nevada and Arizona, Tool was general manager at KRNT-KRNQ. Well Done Award for July: To KCCI for a very classy 35-minute tribute to newsman Russ Van Dyke that aired July 21.

Van Dyke, 74, died July 19..