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People feature

All hail the queen
Think watching talk shows is bad? Try making them.

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By Caroline Sommers

Sept. 20, 1999 | The news has not been good for TV talk shows of late. Jerry Springer has been emasculated, no longer allowed to feature fistfights on his former daily brawl-fest. Jenny Jones has lost face over the murder of Scott Amedure, a guest who confessed his gay crush on a friend and was subsequently shot by the man. Montel has just announced he suffers from multiple sclerosis. And now, there's Queen Latifah, rap artist, actress, and talk show hostess extraordinaire (at least that's what her producers at Time Telepictures, a division of Time Warner, hope.) The new talker premieres Sept. 20 but, as I said, the news isn't good.

Having worked in television over the last dozen years, I've seen my share of the bizarre and the distasteful. But never have I seen anything like what I experienced this past summer, spending one full month in pre-production for the Queen Latifah show.

I admit I went in with a bit of a chip on my shoulder. After all, who wants to be in the same scuzzy profession as Jerry Springer? After producing documentaries for such esteemed cable outlets as A&E and Court TV (well, at least they're better than "My father is a transvestite hooker!"), it was a major step down. But the money was good.

I was to run the field department for the show, supervising a team of two field producers, an associate producer and a cameraman. The upper tier of producers had lofty goals for Queen Latifah. They didn't want it to be "just" a talk show. They wanted pieces, important pieces, that set up the one-hour, single-subject episodes in a compelling, meaningful manner -- all in one minute or less.

Week 1: As a newcomer to the airwaves, Latifah was an unknown quantity, and nothing scares a publicist more than booking a big-name client on a loser show. The upshot? No one wanted to stick their neck out, so it was time to start calling in the favors from B-list actors and FOLs (Friends of Latifah): Brooke Shields, Carmen Electra, Donna D'Erico. Slim pickings.

. Next page | Latifah cares about her audience ...



 

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