They serve as the transition from hard – hitting news shows and the messed up world of soap operas. Talk shows have become a dominant part of daytime TV and every year a new bumper crop of shows appears hoping to be the next Rosie or Oprah. Come on, look at all the stuff that Rosie does. Look at all the money that Oprah rakes in. There is a lot of money to be made here. This season we have a new type of man show and a couple of new Oprah clones.
Most TV viewers have at least heard of “The View,” which is hosted by a diverse panel of women. It’s a nice concept and I am surprised that it took so long for a knock-off to show up. It’s called “The Other Half.” It’s basically the male version of “The View,” only with really odd panelists. We have Dick Clark sitting next to Slater from “Saved by the Bell,” who is sitting next to Danny Bonaduce from “The Partridge Family.” It’s odd and surreal at the same time. Where else can you see two former teen idols sitting next to the “eternal teenager?”
On the particular day that I watched the show the men on the panel were learning how to change diapers. Wow, what fascinating topic material. Now I am sure that there are men out there who might not know how to change a diaper, but are they going to watch daytime TV in order to learn how?
With massive success of Oprah, there have been many vain attempts to clone her success. This season we have two contenders for the throne with “The Ananda Lewis Show” and “Iyanla.” Neither really seem to have the presence of Oprah, but Lewis’ show is a better watch.
“Iyanla” has one glaring problem, the name. I understand that is the name of the host, but how can a show be successful when people can’t even pronounce the name of the show? The other problem is that it copies directly from the Oprah playbook. Please, be original. You can only have so many Dr. Phil clones on TV and you can only have so many fuzzy, feel good, “find your inner spirit” shows.
Lewis comes to us from MTV. That same laid back vibe is present throughout the show. The topics mix between the serious and the silly is nice. You can’t be all serious all the time and you can’t be goofy all the time either.
This is not saying that the veterans are pillars of perfection either. These days having a hit talk show is not enough. You have to have a massive media empire behind you with books, crappy magazines that always have you on the cover and all other kinds of merchandise that only your die-hard fans will buy.
One example of this is Rosie. She took a good magazine and totally ruined it. Oprah and Rosie might want to try putting something new on the cover other than themselves. If you are going to have a huge media and merchandise empire, please keep it separate from the show. Don’t go off plugging your stuff at the end of a segment. Commercials during the show, good, shameless plugs during your shows, bad.
Daytime talk has come a long way since the days of “Donahue.” Today there is just a massive rush to give anyone airtime, even if it is Dr. Laura. These shows need to come up with new ideas. How many shows can you do about guests going “Who is the father of my baby,” or “Send my teen’s butt to boot camp.” There is not one truly original daytime talk show out there. Until that show comes, I’ll stick to watching the highlights on E!’s “Talk Soup.”
