The public outcry when a TV personality is pushed toward unwilling retirement typically resembles a Roman candle on the Fourth of July: the blaze is bright but brief, the heat evanesces, and all that lingers is a fond memory in the mind's eye. That is how it has gone for even the biggest stars, from Red Skelton to Walter Cronkite. NBC doubtless imagined it would be no different when it undertook to freshen the Today show by easing veteran co- anchor Jane Pauley toward the sidelines. But in the eight months since Pauley announced she would resign from the show, after...
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