Walters to Exit "20/20"?

By Stephen M. Silverman

09/23/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Friday nights could become very different by fall, if what the Los Angeles Times reported on Monday comes to pass: that Barbara Walters may exit "20/20 Friday" when her contract expires at the end of this year. ABC News had no comment about the story, and Walters herself was unavailable for comment. But the Hollywood Reporter says this morning that thanks to her success with "The View" (which she co-hosts and co-executive produces), the veteran TV figure, 68, is now focusing her attention on daytime programming -- so much so that her production company is now developing a half-hour daytime pilot about positive-thinking author Iyanla Vanzant.