No less than six women will host CBS' new, untitled daytime talk show due to premiere this fall: Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Leah Remini and Marissa Jaret Winokur all are on board for the new show, which will "examine topic events and contemporary issues through the eyes of mothers," according to CBS.
Deadline.com first reported the news. The show will air on the CBS network and replace cancelled soap opera As the World Turns.
Gilbert, known best for her role on Roseanne, developed the show and will serve as executive producer. Veteran producer John Redmann, who's also produced Warner Bros.' The Tyra Banks Show, ABC's True Beauty, Disney-ABC's The Tony Danza Show, Disney-ABC's The Wayne Brady Show and Warner Bros.' The Rosie O'Donnell Show, will serve as showrunner.
All six women are mothers, whether they have adult children or infants. Chen, wife of CBS chief Leslie Moonves, gave birth to Charlie Moonves last September. Gilbert and her partner, Allison Adler, have two children, a son and a daughter. Winokur, who survived cervical cancer, had a baby via a surrogate in late 2008. Robinson Peete and her husband, NFL star Rodney Peete, have four children. Remini has a daughter and three stepchildren with her husband. And the exploits of Osbourne's adult children with rock star Ozzy have been well-documented via their MTV reality series.
Tackling daytime from the point of view of motherhood has recently been tried, with Warner Bros. shopping its MomLogic project late last year, but failing to get enough stations to sign on to launch the show. Approaching topics from a mom angle seems to make sense in daytime, since many moms stay at home, but most TV execs say that segments on motherhood are a tough sell.
"Ask any morning show producer, mom topics don't rate," said one daytime TV executive. "They are just too narrow. Moms usually don't want to be thought of as just moms, and TV is usually their escape."
Still, with so many personalities, CBS' show promises to be topical and lively.
"Daytime is an evolving daypart with more variety now among soap operas, game and talk shows," said Barbara Bloom, SVP of daytime for CBS Entertainment, in a statement. "We were looking for a new format that would speak to the core audience but also have the topical and entertainment value to go even broader. This panel is not a bashful bunch; they are outspoken on any issue you put on the table. It promises to be an hour of television with timely discussions, unfiltered opinions and a lot of personality."
This panel show is being developed by CBS Daytime and will air on the CBS network, so it will have a guaranteed time slot on CBS owned stations and affiliates in the As the World Turns timeslot, much like The View occupies a daytime network slot on ABC.
Meanwhile, CBS Television Distribution remains in development on a talk show featuring Australian late-night star Rove McManus and Hot in Cleveland's Valerie Bertinelli. CTD hopes to shop the talker to TV stations later this year.
