Television: Face the Lottery

In their hot pursuit of headlinemakers, TV’s three major news-panel shows have grown so competitive that they are forcing statesmen to new stratagems of diplomacy. When Moderator Oliver Presbrey of ABC’s Press Conference began thanking Britain’s Opposition Leader Hugh Gaitskell for having “chosen” to appear in a filmed edition of the show, Gaitskell broke in to ask that he change that to “accepted” the invitation. This phrasing would square him with a future host, CBS’s Face the Nation, explained Gaitskell, who added discreetly that he already had promised NBC’s Meet the Press first crack at him whenever he becomes Britain’s Prime Minister. Last week former Supreme Allied Commander Alfred Gruenther, long impregnable to a bombardment of invitations by the three programs, maneuvered a skillful surrender. At his request and in full view of Washington newsmen, a Pentagon pressagent solemnly dropped three slips of paper into a hat, each marked with the name of a different show. Then, eyes averted, he fished out the winner: Face the Nation, which triumphantly booked him for this Sunday’s show (1:30 p.m.).