Former CNNer Aaron Brown returns to television tonight, as host of PBS' international affairs program Wide Angle. It's his first on-air endeavor since his CNN job ended in 2005.

"The PBS thing was like a gift from God," Brown tells Heather Salerno of suburban New York's The Journal News. "It was exactly the right project at exactly the right time."

The new season of Wide Angle begins with a look at Darfur. Future shows will focus on Japan's military and young adults in China.

Brown, who was named the inaugural Walter Cronkite Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University last August, will focus on Wide Angle in New York this summer, before the school year begins.

Brown tells Salerno that life is good — his CNN dismissal does not weigh on him. "I'm neither scarred, nor angry. I'm just blessed."