It's the end of the "Affair" for John Terenzio. The executive producer of "A Current Affair" is ankling the Twentieth Television hit syndie magazine show to form his own production company. He will be replaced by former Boston Herald editor Ken Chandler.
"I've been commuting between my wife and son in Miami and the show in New York for too long," Terenzio said. "I told the folks at Twentieth that I wanted to go back to Miami early last fall and they asked me to stay on board through the February sweeps."
Terenzio, a veteran of ABC News and NBC News, joined "Affair" in November 1991 with the mandate from then-Twentieth TV chairman Lucie Salhany to soften up the show's sleazier edges. Under his watch, "Affair" did clean up its act to some degree.
It remains unclear if Chandler's arrival means a return to a more sensationalistic "Affair."
Last November, a gleeful Terenzio told Daily Variety the show would have its first sweeps with "no strippers swinging around a pole." Terenzio did away with the unwritten tabloid law of what the show shouldn't cover -- gays, urban America -- and pushed "Affair" to do more investigative pieces.
The changes may have caused ratings to dip. Last November's sweeps numbers were down a point from the year before. This sweeps they'll probably be off about half a rating point from February 1992. But a cleaner "Affair" has been able to attract a new group of blue-chip advertisers under Terenzio's watch, including Sears and MasterCard, and its advertising rates got a slight bump up. The show earns an estimated $ 25 million to $ 30 million in pretax profits.
Terenzio rocked the tabloid boat and it at times caused waves inside "Affair." According to show sources, Terenzio nixed opening up the checkbook to pay $ 100,000 for an Amy Fisher interview. "Affair" also passed on obtaining videotapes made by Mia Farrow of her son Dylan describing being molested by Woody Allen.
According to one of Terenzio's friends, the outgoing "Affair" executive producer, referring to the Farrow tape, said: "It was about a 9-year-old child. I have a 7-year-old son. I had to draw the line."
Decisions like deep-sixing the Farrow videotape put Terenzio at odds with key "Affair" staffers, including the show's premiere correspondent and managing editor, Steve Dunleavy.
"Of course there were some differences in methodology, that's inevitable when a guy comes in with a network background," Terenzio said. "Dunleavy and I may have had our differences, but he's the hardest working, most tenacious reporter I've ever worked with. I've never worked with a more dedicated, spirited group of people."
Terenzio's successor, Chandler, is a TV novice. A veteran of Fox parent company News Corp., Chandler spent six years running the Boston Herald and did stints at several other Rupert Murdoch-owned publications, including the New York Post and the Star.
An old crony of Dunleavy's from the New York Post in its "Headless Body in Topless Bar" days, Chandler is no stranger to Murdoch-style journalism at its most hyperbolic. But Chandler, who is well-liked by the Boston media community, is credited with toning down the Herald's sensational side and beefing up its local coverage.
"The Herald legitimized itself under Chandler," said Boston Phoenix media critic Mark Jurkowitz. "He's not a guy with a set ideology. He's a capable guy who'll do what Rupert Murdoch thinks he should do to get the job done."
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