By Lisa de Moraes
Tuesday, May 9, 2006; C07

As recently as last week, NBC promised that for one hour this Sunday, we could watch as "the cast of the Emmy Award-winning 'West Wing' pauses to reflect on the evocative drama's seven years on NBC with a retrospective of many emotional and touching scenes that made the [Bartlet] administration come alive to millions of Americans."

But, as NBC learned the hard way, some cast members of "The West Wing" don't cough up an hour of "emotional" and "touching" for nothing. Not even for cheap.

Turns out, playing themselves reminiscing about their years on the show as role models for millions around the world is not included in their contracts. Those appearances have to be negotiated separately.

Shrewdly recognizing that this could be their last opportunity to hold out for more cash -- various "West Wingers" having entertained us over the years with their sick-outs and other pay-hike ploys -- some cast members let it be known that an hour's worth of emotional and touching pausing and reflecting was going to cost NBC and Warner Bros. TV. Too much, it appears, for a retrospective on a now low-rated show, especially when the clip job was going to air on a Sunday in May at 7 p.m. -- when the HUT (homes using television) level is low.

And so, my fellow Americans, NBC decided it will not broadcast, as it had promised, a "West Wing" retrospective leading into the critically heralded show's very last episode.

Instead, at 7 this Sunday night, NBC will rebroadcast the show's very first episode, in which the band of thespian mercenaries is introduced to an unsuspecting public, and the president of the United States falls off his bicycle -- oh yeah, like that's gonna happen.

When NBC originally aired the pilot episode, in the fall of 1999, it clocked an average of 17 million viewers.

When NBC last reran it in February 2001, according to the network, it averaged about 9 million viewers.

And -- what with "West Wing" originals averaging about 8 million viewers these days -- if the pilot repeat comes anywhere near its previous performance, you can expect to see a lot fewer retrospectives leading into the final episode of a long-running series and a lot more first-episode/final-episode packages.

And Allison Janney no longer will be remembered as having been a role model for millions of women around the world; instead, the "West Wing" gang will be remembered as having been role models for dozens of actors holding out for more cash in order to sit in high chairs and reminisce about their brilliant career on fill-in-the-blank-series.

* * *

Anderson Cooper, hailed by some as CNN's "It" boy, has been named a correspondent for CBS's "60 Minutes."

Cooper, who, in one of those happy coincidences that makes covering TV so serendipitous, anchors CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360." He will contribute up to five reports a year to the CBS Sunday newsmag while continuing as a full-time employee of Time Warner's CNN.

Cooper contributed two reports to "60 Minutes II" during the 2004-05 season.

In yesterday's announcement, CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein pointed out that the Cooper arrangement continues CNN's relationship with CBS. The cable news network's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, was a contributor to "60 Minutes" from the mid-1990s until last season. But this time around, CNN will get to rerun each of Cooper's "60 Minutes" reports once.

"I'm very excited by the opportunity to work at '60 Minutes,' " Cooper said in a canned quote for the news release. "I grew up watching the broadcast and, like many Americans, still try to make sure I'm home Sunday nights at 7 so I can see it. I'm truly honored to be part of '60 Minutes' and look forward to working with [executive producer] Jeff Fager and all the other remarkable talents at CBS News. I can't wait to get started."

That's six "I's," in case you're counting.

In its bio of Cooper, CBS noted that since he joined CNN in December 2001, he has anchored major breaking news stories, most recently the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Cooper traveled to Sri Lanka to cover the tsunami and was in Baghdad for the Iraqi elections. He anchored much of CNN's live coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Vatican City as well as the Terri Schiavo story in Florida.

Before that, CBS News noted, Cooper was a correspondent for ABC News, contributing to "World News Tonight," "20/20," "20/20 Downtown" and the weekend editions of "World News Tonight."

They forgot to mention his time hosting ABC's reality series "The Mole," but they were probably pressed for space.

Fager, meanwhile, declared Cooper "among the very finest reporters of his generation, and he's got what it takes to be a perfect fit here at '60 Minutes.' "

What he's got is a 39th birthday coming up, which, what with Mike Wallace, who turns 88 today, retiring from the show, youngs-up the newsmag's on-air-talent profile considerably.

And yet, in another of those happy coincidences, the young demographic profile of "Anderson Cooper 360" is nearly identical to that of "60 Minutes."

Did you know that 18- to 49-year-olds make up 29.09 percent of the "60 Minutes" audience and 29.47 percent of the "Anderson Cooper 360" audience?

Me neither.

Cooper's show averaged 151,000 18- to 49-year-olds last month. Steve Colbert's "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central is averaging 716,000 18- to 49-year-olds these days. Better get to work on that Colbert bio.