TVSquad

Poor Marie Osmond. Apparently, her upcoming daytime talk show has been pulled already due to poor ad sales, despite being cleared on stations reaching 80% of the TV audience. It was going to be broadcast from Las Vegas where she and her brother Donny are performing nightly at the Flamingo Hotel as a result of selling their souls.

I guess that Dancing With The Stars career boost didn't really pay off. Or perhaps it was just unfortunate circumstances given how the economy is tanking. However, things are getting better and it's entirely possible that she'll be back in the talk show market in a few years.

I recognize that the Donny and Marie talk show lasted two seasons, but isn't that the franchise that most people recognize nowadays when then think of her (if they're of a certain age)? Her previous solo variety show in 1980 only lasted a year. Does she think that this talk show would last longer?

Question: is there anyone out there who still thinks that Robin Williams is funny?

I ask this because he's the very first guest (well, after the adorable niece and her drawings) on The Bonnie Hunt Show, the new talk show from the veteran actress/comic, and he pretty much ruins the episode. The first half anyway. The guy just can't shut up, and I suppose that would be rather great if he was funny, but with Williams, quantity doesn't equal quality. There are very few moments to breathe when Williams hits a talk show couch, and I think the only reason I get through his segment was because halfway through Joe Mantegna showed up with pizza for the audience.

So how do you like your Jerry Springer Show: less freaks or extra freaky?

Well, those of you who like the latter might be disappointed in the upcoming 44th season of Jerry's show. The producers promise that they're going to make the show less crazy and actually focus on one person/family for the entire show, something they did when the show first started.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the show is suddenly going to turn into Charlie Rose. I'm sure the topics will still be cheating, sex changes, family problems, and everything else that has made the show a hit. And if someone were to pick up a chair and throw it for some reason, I'm sure the producers wouldn't mind.

The article above says that there will no longer be guys that can walk on their hands, mimes, plate-spinners, and puppets. Wait a second, did Springer turn into The Ed Sullivan Show the past few years? I should pay attention more.

During my senior year of college, my friend Ken, suffering through a tough job market right after he graduated, worked as a cook in the fraternity house in which he (and I) lived his college years. As he was preparing our lunches and dinners, he'd walk into the living room, see us slumped in front of whatever crap was on daytime TV at the time, and say, "Isn't Montel on or something?"

It became a bit of an inside joke that year. But even fifteen years ago, it seemed that Montel Williams' talk show was always on. But as of the end of this season, Montel is departing the syndicated airwaves, after 17 years.

TV Week tells us that after clearing 85% of the market with a few last-minute sales, including to one of my local stations in St. Louis, The Bonnie Hunt Show is now able to get things in order for a Fall 2008 launch. Hunt filmed a pilot in June of 2007 and was picked up with a two year commitment in September.

Bonnie Hunt is one of those Hollywood names everyone knows, everyone in the industry likes, and she's been around forever, but she's never been in anything "big-time." Her biggest TV role was probably her Emmy-nominated performance in the short-lived ABC series Life with Bonnie, in which Hunt played ... a TV talk show host ... well, that's kind of weird. I guess all she's really wanted to do is direct-- I mean, host a talk show. Sorry, they all want to direct, of course. Goes without saying. So I probably shouldn't have.

I've been wondering when actress Bonnie Hunt was going to return to television. She's had several short-lived sitcoms (all rather good and different - Grand, The Bonnie Hunt Show, Life with Bonnie, The Building) and beyond her movie work (Cars, Cheaper By The Dozen) I heard she had also signed a deal to create another comedy show.

But that's not going to happen anytime soon, because Hunt has just signed a two-year deal for her own talk daytime talk show. The show will premiere in syndication in the fall of 2008 on NBC stations.

I have to admit that I completely forgot that this show even existed, which is probably what happened with a lot of people and the reason why the show has been canceled.

The show debuted in September, and the ratings just kept on a-fallin. NBC Universal, the company that syndicated the show, isn't even going to let them do a final show. They're pulling the plug immediately. They thank everyone for their hard work, blah, blah, blah and they say Mullally is one of the most talented people, blah, blah, blah.

Actually, Mullally is very talented. She's an actress but also has a great singing voice and has released some albums. So it's not like she's going to have to wait at home doing Sudoku puzzles until the producers of Will and Grace do a reunion show. I'm sure she'll find work.

Hey, how about a spinoff featuring her Karen Walker character? I don't know how they'd do that without having Will, Grace, and Jack in there, but it might be pretty funny with some good writing.

Related:
Megan Mullally show will rerun on TBS
Megan Mullally talks more about her talk show

Think about the number of daytime talk shows that have lasted more than a couple of years. You've got self-help shows like Oprah and Dr. Phil, "You're my baby's daddy" shows like Maury and Jerry Springer, and one or two celebrity-hosted shows, like Ellen and the old Rosie O'Donnell Show. The formula for daytime talk show success is very nebulous, so nebulous that it has chewed up and spit out celebrities as diverse as Jane Pauley, Tempestt Bledsoe, Tony Danza and David Letterman.

So why, why, WHY do celebrities whosse star power has fallen a little bit keep thinking they can forge a second career as a talk show host? And who are these studio execs who think creating these shows is a good idea? That's what I thought when I read that Vivica A. Fox is now talking to studios about hosting a daytime talk show. Sigh. I mean, Vivica's a nice actress. But what insight can she give to a daytime talk show, especially one that isn't celebrity-driven? We already have Tyra Banks talking about her dolphin phobia; do we need another beautiful celebrity trying to relate to everyday folks?