Moyers returns with PBS show

By Frazier Moore

AP Television Writer

NEW YORK

Wearing what is meant to be a sheepish smile, Bill Moyers greets a reporter by acknowledging that, yes, twice before just in the past decade, he has launched a much-acclaimed public affairs TV series, then called it quits, professing to be done with television — only to launch yet another such show a couple of years later.

He is doing it again. At age 77, this self-proclaimed “citizen journalist” re-engages with his audience when “Moyers & Company” premieres on public television stations across the country this weekend (in the Youngstown area, it will air at 5 p.m. tonight on Western Reserve PBS).

“We will not be doing the extensive field reporting; we will not be doing the high-production-value stories this time,” he notes, conceding that “Moyers & Company” will be a bit more lean-and-mean than such past series as “Bill Moyers Journal” (2007-2010) and, before it, “Now With Bill Moyers” (2002 to 2004).

But “Moyers & Company” will be gratefully received by anyone who has followed his TV career, which began four decades ago, after several years with President Lyndon Johnson, whom he served as special assistant and press secretary, and after a stint as deputy director of the Peace Corps, and after a stretch as publisher of the Long Island newspaper Newsday.

“‘Moyers & Company’ will essentially be my probing other people’s ideas, and intelligence, and experiences,” he says in his hushed, almost pastoral tone.

This brand-new weekly hour promises to be no less important, thoughtful and far-flung in its interests than his past TV projects, addressing subjects that range from politics to poetry, and with a nuanced approach that defies the polarization endemic to most TV interview programs.