You may see a lot less of network news diva Barbara Walters on TV next year.
Walters, who has anchored “20/20” since 1984, reportedly may scale back her work at ABC next season.
Besides anchoring “20/20,” Walters, 68, is also the executive producer and co-host of the successful daytime talk show “The View.” She also hosts at least four “Barbara Walters Specials” each year, and is producing a new half-hour pilot for daytime TV.
“She’s been dropping hints that she wants to drop something from her schedule,” a source close to Walters said yesterday.
Walters’ contract – which reportedly pays her $10 million a year – expires this fall, and some insiders feel that she may be tired of the hectic schedule that keeps her in prime time on Fridays and on “The View” two days a week.
Her highly rated (and highly profitable) specials, such as the pre-Academy Awards show – during which top nominees are interviewed – may be the first to go.
“Everything is adding up, and who knows what she’s asking for in her new contract?” the source said.
But ABC might be hesitant to let Walters walk away from her annual “Barbara Walters Specials.”
The shows, on which big stars such as Heather Locklear, Kelsey Grammer and Jim Carrey tend to spill their guts, air under the titles of “The Ten Most Fascinating People” and “Barbara Walters Presents Six to Watch.” The shows are relatively cheap to produce, garner big ratings and draw big bucks from advertisers.
An ABC News spokeswoman declined to comment. Walters was traveling and could not be reached.
“The specials take forever to produce,” a network source said. “They take a lot out of her.”
Dropping “20/20” may not be an option, the source said, because “she’s established herself on that show – she anchors the Friday-night show alone.”
Other sources close to Walters say her heart is currently in producing daytime TV, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Her well-received daytime chat-fest, “The View,” is produced through Walters’ privately owned Barwal Productions. It may soon be joined by a new half-hour daytime pilot built around positive-thinking guru Iyanla Vanzant, the author of “Yesterday, I Cried.”