Feature

Geraldo's Last Laugh

Nothing did more to mar Rivera's reputation than the 1991 publication of his breathless, aptly named autobiography, Exposing Myself. Fearful that a writer for Reader's Digest was working on an unauthorized book about him, Rivera typically decided to strike first. "His agent, his wife, and I all told him not to do it," says Marty Berman. "What he did to himself was worse than what anyone would have done. If a movie star wrote it, that would be one thing. But for a newsman, it wasn't gallant. It was macho-asshole." Rivera provided intimate details of his extramarital affairs with Marian Javits, wife of former New York senator Jacob Javits; Margaret Trudeau; and Bette Midler, among others.

Needless to say, the memoir provided fodder for the tabloids and late-night comedians. Though Rivera now says he regrets writing the book, there is a sense in which he was liberated by it. Dismissing his peers as a "spiteful bunch," he says, "They can't say anything about me that I haven't already said myself."

By his own account, Rivera has enjoyed his sexual freedom, and his critics eagerly point out that his personal experiences have undoubtedly framed his benign view of Clinton's sexcapades. But Rivera's identification with Clinton goes deeper. One evening after the show, he took his guests, including former governor Mario Cuomo and Jerry Shargel, for drinks at Miss Elle's. The formal Cuomo seemed ill at ease as Geraldo played master of ceremonies. The situation wasn't helped when a patron came up and delighted Rivera with the suggestion of a Rivera-Cuomo ticket in 2000 -- in that order. Holding forth on Clinton, he suddenly turned to Shargel and said: "He's one of us, man! He's our generation." As a lawyer, Rivera is as anti-crime as they come -- witness his stance on the O.J. case. But he believes the creation by Starr of a victimless crime was a dangerous abuse of power. "He always comes out on the side of the underdog," says Craig Rivera, summing up his brother's philosophy.

Ironically, Rivera's unbridled indignation may be just what's missing from his new show, Upfront Tonight. The audience-grabbing tacky splendor is gone, too: He's swapped his jeans for suit pants and hosts a succession of nearly dead white men as his headline guests -- Henry Kissinger, William F. Buckley, Marlin Fitzwater, and Al Haig, who addressed Rivera on air as "Reynaldo." So far, the show is a disappointment. Rivera concedes it has not found its "raison d'être."

For Rivera, it's the age-old insider-outsider conundrum. One CNBC source says the problem is that "Geraldo isn't himself" on Upfront Tonight. But inside NBC, the worry is that Rivera is too much himself and may never be accepted by a wider news audience as a straight anchor. The first network news special landed with a dull thud as well. For the first time ever, people are saying that Rivera is -- of all things -- boring, which also raises a question for Rivera Live, at least until another O.J. or Monica comes along. Of course, the moment he's not boring, the journalistic cognoscenti will be ready to run him out of town again.

Perhaps Rivera can't have it both ways after all, but he says he's not worried. "After Willowbrook, everyone said, 'You'll never get another story like that.' But I'm not just good on the air. I'm a good producer. It's a learned response. Lightning will strike again," he says, sighing deeply. "My only solace is that I'm on my sixth generation of critics, and I've outlived them all."