Next Friday marks the 2,000th episode of “Tavis Smiley” on PBS — and the show’s host says there’s still one guest who’s eluded him in the past 10 years.
“Nelson Mandela is at the top of my list,” says Smiley of the legendary 94-year-old South African leader. “I’ve met him a number of times in private settings, but by the time I gained some stature on TV and could have booked him, he was too ill.
“Larry King asked me the other day who’s the one person I’ve never interviewed on-air and I said Mandela,” Smiley says, “and he said he has interviewed Mandela, but that the one person he’d want to interview was Fidel Castro.
“Well, I did interview Castro a couple of times,” Smiley says, laughing.
That, in turn, speaks to the influence of “Tavis Smiley,” which airs midnight on Ch. 13 and has, over the course of its decade-long run, given viewers a mix of A-list celebrities, newsmakers and people working to make a difference.
“I believe I work at my best when I’m challenging people to re-examine the assumptions they hold and using this platform on PBS to introduce Americans to each other,” Smiley says. “PBS allows me to do that. I want to talk about things that matter in the world and have real conversations — and to not be interrupted by commercials.”
That’s not to say it hasn’t been challenging for Smiley.
“The good news is that I own my show and the bad news is that I own my show,” he says. “Fund raising and underwriting is tough. The networks are in trouble and so is public TV and radio. The money is getting harder and harder to come by.”
Smiley, 48, continues to work on a year-to-year contract. “I just don’t know whether or not I’m going to be inspired by my work and I never know what the underwriting situation is going to be like or what PBS and the audience are going to think,” he says.
“Almost all of my contracts are tied to my birthday in September. I figure my birthday is the best time of year for me to sit with myself and assess whether I’ve been happy over the past year with the progress I’m making.
“I still feel there’s work to be done to try to raise issues and profile people who aren’t being profiled.”