I really like Bob Costas. I think he's one of the best interviewers around today. Charlie Rose is a runner-up. Unlike most others in the industry, Bob is intelligent, always well-prepared and most importantly, he lets his subjects do much of the talking. He makes people feel at ease, has a good sense of humor and asks his guests what you might ask them if you were as well-prepared.

Bob Costas I first saw him on the late-night NBC talk show Later with Bob Costas that followed David Letterman, back when he followed Johnny Carson. Later consisted of Bob and a guest sitting in two overstuffed chairs and just talking about the guest's career or background. A simple format and it was great. I'm an interview junkie of sorts. I love them and have a pretty good-sized collection on tape and DVD. Some of my most coveted are from Later.

Bob's true love is sports so, after six years on Later, he left the show to focus on that. He has a steady gig on HBO, still works for NBC Sports and was recently signed as the guest host for Larry King Live. (Unfortunately, these days, Larry King is the polar opposite to Bob Costas in interviewing prowess.)

I was excited to find out that Bob would be sitting in for Larry last week. But when I tuned in on Thursday night, Bob wasn't in the chair. Someone else was. What the hey? Well, it turns out that the show was scheduled to retread the already widely covered Natalee Holloway missing-person case in Aruba. No new information, just the show's producers desire for high ratings.

Well, it seems Bob said "no thanks." In an New York Times article he was quoted as saying, "I don't believe there was a single American who was sitting around saying 'I'd really like to see Bob Costas's take on this.'" No big fuss, just respectfully declining to be part of the media frenzy world of harping on sensational topics. Principles and standards. A nice change of pace. If only more people would make choices like that...viewers included.

Did I mention I like Bob Costas?