Tavis Smiley: Promo envy

"Every time I see an Oprah ad these days, I cringe, because I wish we had even a scintilla of the money O has" to promote her new Oprah Winfrey Network to tell the viewing public where to find his show, PBS talker Tavis Smiley told critics Sunday afternoon. In Los Angeles, where KCET has produced "The Tavis Smiley Show" since 2004, the city's major PBS outet this month split from the mothership to save money, abandoning a lineup that includes "Masterpiece," "Nova" and "Sesame Street" for what the Los Angeles Times has described as "a patchwork of BBC repeats and news programs and documentaries from Japan, Canada and elsewhere." Smiley, though, will remain in KCET studios for another year and in his 11 p.m. time slot on PBS stations (11:30 p.m. on Philadelphia's WHYY) for his eighth season.