Clinton offered own talk show

Bill Clinton: "No plans to do such a show"

Outgoing US President Bill Clinton has been offered a weekly chat show by an American television company.

NBC approached Mr Clinton's longtime friend, TV producer Harry Thomason, with the idea of hosting the show after he left office, the network's spokeswoman Shirley Powell told Reuters.

Ms Powell said the concept was for a weekly interview show, "along the lines of a Meet the Press."

But the president does not appear to have been tempted so far - White House press secretary Jake Siewert said Mr Clinton has said he "had no plans to do such a show".

Such a concept is previously unheard of and runs counter to the tradition of former presidents keeping a low profile when they depart from office, according to Joel Aberbach, a political science professor.

Clintons are likely to remain prominent due to Hillary's high-profile job

Mr Aberbach, who works at the University of California at Los Angeles, said: "Most of them maintain their aura of elder statesman by not appearing very often.

"If you're running a show like Meet the Press, you're down there with the other people," he said, adding he thought Clinton would make a great talk show host.

Ms Powell said the offer was made by Ed Wilson, president of NBC Enterprises during telephone conversation with Mr Thomason about three weeks ago.

Wilson and Thomason are both from Arkansas and longtime friends, she said.

No plans announced

Neither Thomason nor his wife and producing partner, Linda Bloodworth Thomason, was available for comment.

But Reuters reports that in an interview in The Washington Post on Tuesday, Harry Thomason said they were approached by NBC, not the other way around as reported over the weekend by Internet gossip columnist Matt Drudge.

"Neither Linda nor I have ever held a pitch meeting with NBC or anybody else about the services of the president,'' he was quoted as telling the Post.

The president has not yet announced what he plans to do next.

His successor, President-Elect George W Bush, takes over in January.

But Mr Clinton will no doubt stay in the public eye, however, as his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, will take office in January as a US senator from New York.