Walter Cronkite

In the coolness of time, Dan Rather may well be regarded with the same awe and reverence now afforded Edward R. Murrow, founding father and patron saint of CBS News. But in the heat of the moment, Rather has become one of the most criticized, hounded and harassed newsmen in TV history, a magnet for calumny and misfortune. He's the most closely watched anchor. And the most frequently bashed. For Rather, 1987 was one Dan thing after another. But he says the worst is over, for him and for the news organization to which he is devoted.

As if sinking ratings and bad jokes weren't enough, Dan Rather must now take the heat from the most trusted man in TV news history: Walter Cronkite. Breaking his silence yesterday on the Great Blank of 1987, Cronkite, who Rather followed into the anchor's chair, said he would have given Rather the ax for storming off the set of the "CBS Evening News" last month and forcing the network to go black for six minutes. "I can answer that (question) in five words: I would have fired him," Cronkite told the University of Texas student newspaper, the Daily Texan.

I am, at the moment of writing, seated with my small typewriter at a perfect little mahogany desk below the teak deck of Walter Cronkite's 48-foot sailboat, "Wyntje. " (Yachtsmen are never satisfied with the words ordinary mortals use.) There are six of us aboard, with sleeping space for all. We are anchored in a little cove, protected from the wind and waves of open water, that is perfect in every detail. The green hills rise sharply from a short distance behind the crescent-shaped beach.

Despite layoffs, the cancellation of the "CBS Morning News" and the recent resignation of news division president Van Gordon Sauter, former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite says he feels better times are ahead. Cronkite recently told sponsors of his "Walter Cronkite at Large" special, which airs Sunday at 10 p.m. on Channel 10, that he was very disturbed about the loss of the one-hour documentary format. "I would hope that under the changes being made right now we will see a return to them.

I spent my entire early life skinny; if not skinny, trim. I ate what I wanted, drank what I wanted, and remained a vertical accent. Middle age, however, has brought with it some 25 pounds (You know you're 25 pounds overweight when you look in the mirror and say: "I have to lose 10 pounds"). I've tried everything. Just before Christmas, I went on a holiday diet. I immediately gained five pounds. After Christmas, I went on another, more strenuous diet. I gained another five pounds.