TELEVISION - March 29, 1996

Record PBS Drive: PBS announced Thursday that its March membership drive has already surpassed last year’s record-setting total, even though several major-market stations, including Los Angeles’ KCET-TV Channel 28, don’t wrap up their drives until this weekend. So far, more than 583,000 public television viewers have pledged $49 million to local stations--PBS’ biggest on-air pledge drive ever and an 11% increase over 1995’s then-record total of $44.2 million. PBS said the drive has been boosted by the extremely strong showing of “Great Performances: ‘Les Miserables’ in Concert.” Many stations reported raising more money in its first showing than from any other program in their histories. In fact, a PBS executive noted that if encore showings also do well, “there is every chance that ‘Les Miz’ will surpass the . . . ‘Three Tenors’ concerts to become the top fund-raising program ever on public television.” “ ‘Les Miserables’ in Concert”--which re-airs on KCET Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 12:30 and 7:30 p.m.-- was filmed last October during a special 10th anniversary performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

New Anchor Pairing?: ABC correspondents Cokie Roberts and Sam Donaldson taped a one-hour “test” broadcast last week, trying out interviews and some chitchat to see what worked for possible new programming. The pair has long talked about doing a show together, and air time seems available amid plans for an ABC 24-hour cable news channel. Meanwhile, with talk that ABC News’ New York management is unhappy with the Sunday edition of “Good Morning America,” the Roberts/Donaldson pairing could presumably also be used to fill that slot.