When Geraldo’s Away, They Play

The queuing up began last month to fill in for vacationing Geraldo Rivera on CNBC’s “Rivera Live,” and this week’s anointed substitute is the raging, war-waging, sometimes-engaging “Sage of South-Central.”

Otherwise known as KABC-AM (790) radio personality Larry Elder.

More about Elder shortly. But first flash back to Aug. 19, Night 2 in the weeklong Geraldo surrogacy of noted author and raconteur Marcia Clark. Yes, the Marcia Clark, who was lead prosecutor in O.J. Simpson’s criminal trial.

Clark was with two of her guests. “No, something is not wrong with your TV,” she began, acknowledging the weird, otherworldliness of the occasion before introducing noted forensics expert Henry Lee and prominent pathologist Dr. Michael Baden. Yes, the Henry Lee and the Michael Baden, both of whom testified on behalf of Simpson, whom Clark and her team tried mightily, but unsuccessfully, to convict in the homicides of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

“Welcome, gentlemen,” Clark said.

Lee said hello. “Hi, Marcia,” Baden said.

It sounded like they were about to play “Jeopardy!”

The lead topic was, of course, the- latest- developments- are- that- there- are- no- developments crime feast on which many TV and radio talk shows continuously nibble: the JonBenet Ramsey murder case.

So, you see, it was business as usual.

Except this. Bizarre and almost surreal was Clark’s amiable, schmoozy demeanor with Lee and Baden, who only two years ago had been her courtroom foes in a bitter, lacerating televised trial that made headlines globally. Thus, her reunion with them on “Rivera Live” amounted to the rapprochement of the century. One that illustrated either that the Simpson criminal prosecution’s cross-examination of Lee and Baden was largely stagecraft for the jury and TV audience, or that Clark was acting on TV last week in appearing to respect and even endorse their opinions during her stint with them on CNBC.

It’s just a guess, but you suspect that it was the former.

This atmosphere of unreality generated by “Rivera Live” that night applied especially to Baden, who also testified for the defense in Simpson’s subsequent civil trial, but who during the earlier criminal trial had his testimony aggressively attacked by cross-examining Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Kelberg. Baden gave at least as good as he got, part of the Clark-led prosecution’s anti-Baden strategy being to portray him as a gun for hire, the standard tactic used against professional experts who are paid for their testimony.

Yet on “Rivera Live,” Clark gave Baden’s general views on criminology, along with Lee’s, a respectful, almost reverential airing, making an almost lighthearted mention, in fact, of Baden’s reported fee in the Simpson case. “What did you get paid . . . ? A hundred grand?” He didn’t answer.

Clark was an effective host, by the way, extending her courtroom incisiveness and mental agility to the TV studio, a performance that earned her a scheduled return gig next month.

The message here seems to be, though, that apparent adversaries in another setting inevitably find a way to unite for the camera in mutual self-interest. And that courtrooms share with TV a theatricality that shouldn’t be underestimated.

Someone who understands theater, meanwhile, is Elder, whose combative iconoclasm earns him both praise and hostility from his radio audience.

Elder, who appears to delight in ticking off people, and thrives also on the spotlight he draws by pushing their buttons, confounds the multitudes by being an African American whose politics list heavily--fasten your seat belts--to the right.

That makes him the scourge of those who maintain that conservatism (Elder prefers being titled a libertarian) is not the cubbyhole in which blacks belong. He enrages his critics, and so far has survived campaigns to drive him from the airwaves initiated by other African Americans who label him a traitor to their cause.

As Elder’s radio listeners know, he believes that racial preferences corrode the United States and demean and cripple the minorities they’re designed to uplift--the irony being that his views, including his oft-stated opposition to welfare and affirmative action, wouldn’t draw even a pinlight of publicity were they not attached to an African American.

Although Elder is smart, opinionated, witty and a formidable debater with the skills to excel in any radio or TV venue, you can bet that he wouldn’t have been as noticed or earned a cherished “60 Minutes” profile last April had he been, say, a Swedish American named Olaf Peterson. And, as a consequence, he likely wouldn’t have been this week’s VIP heading “Rivera Live,” following defense attorney Leslie Abramson, TV producer Dick Wolf and former Simpson criminal prosecutors Clark and Christopher Darden to the guest-host pedestal.

Monday’s noisy hour with Elder was the kind of program that those behind the camera often proudly proclaim to be “great TV.” In other words, big heat, small light, with Elder ultimately appearing to lose control, and he and his glut of guests--mostly an array of black attorneys checking in by satellite--often speaking and shouting over one another in something akin to “12 Angry Men.”

That was especially the case when the focus turned from JonBenet’s parents (yup, them again) to one of Elder’s favored topics.

“Are anti-hate laws only used in instances of white perpetrator, black victim?” he asked.

A provocative question that few on TV would have the guts to ask. Anyone acquainted with Elder’s views about blacks often getting away with making racist comments for which whites usually are savaged could have predicted his “yes” answer, one that his guests mainly rebutted. If you wanted thoughtful discourse leading to an answer you could go to the bank with, though, you were watching the wrong program.

Examining the gray areas that separate extremes is not Elder’s strength, nor usually the forte of television. Which makes them an ideal match.

* “Rivera Live” airs weekdays at 6 and 9 p.m. on CNBC cable.