After a couple of weeks of grueling viewing, it’s clear to me that daytime TV talk falls into two categories: self-help and mild entertainment. Subcategories include humiliation, tough love and freak show.
If it’s true that you are what you watch, you may want to consider how much time you spend with any one of these daylight genres. (Another conclusion: It’s easier to snack unashamedly on crunchy salt and grease through a sitting of Wendy Williams than a dose of health-conscious Dr. Oz. Mmm, crispy!)
Talk shows have evolved from the years of Jerry Springer meanness. These days, they tend to have more “aspirational” leanings, cheerleading their viewers on with self-actualizing pop therapies that echo the Army’s “Be all you can be” — and not just from Oprah Winfrey.
There are still the freak-show promulgators, Maury Povich and Steve Wilkos chief among them. They’re big on tracking down baby daddies and cheating spouses. And Tyra Banks, while she can be likable and entertaining, veers toward being a sideshow barker (today, Tyra talks to people with unusual habits, including a person who eats his own toenails and a chronic nose picker).
Daytime talk isn’t exactly commendable now, but its dark days of exploitative Ricki Lake and Sally Jesse Raphael shockers are diminished.
The tough-love and fitness disciplinarians Drs. Phil and Oz are competing on a higher plane. The performers turned interviewers, notably Ellen DeGeneres and Williams, dmirably aim to offer both good advice and infotainment.
Still, together, the shows can play out like one very long commercial. On any given day in America, there are hundreds of high- and low-ranking celebrities selling new books and CDs, TV shows and movies.
TV talk provides the requisite hoops any enterprising author/artist must jump through en route to the best-seller lists. The segments are flimsy and fleeting — this isn’t English class, after all. There’s no real analysis going on, just name dropping. We may not remember the book title, but we can picture the smiles all around, the empathetic responses and the audiences’ coached cheers in response.
On any given day, it all amounts to happy company to the task of folding laundry. The voices are upbeat, the tone of conversation is warm — even the bickering is gentle.
On the fourth hour of “Today,” the smart Hoda Kotb tethers the trying Kathy Lee to earth. They clutch puppies as Cesar Millan touts his new dog training guidebook. Hoda remains unshakably dignified no matter what the producers have her do. (Perhaps after a very public battle with cancer, nothing can make you look small.)
On “The View,” Lisa Ling is agreeable even though she doesn’t get a word in next to the indomitable Sherri Shepherd. Whoopi makes fun of a commercial she has to read, between Steve Martin plugging his banjo record and David Alan Grier promoting his book, “Barack Like Me.” There is excitement in some quarters over Elisabeth Hasselbeck’s return from maternity leave Monday.
Not that it isn’t . . . disturbing at times. Away from the book- sellers are the tawdry train- wreck talkers. Maury Povich is busy debriefing a 15-year-old who is pregnant and unsure who the father is. The kid who is her best guess for paternity arrives onstage, looking sheepish. Surprise! The DNA results are in! He’s not the daddy! (Audience: “Ooooooohhhhh!” Wild applause.)
Another guessing game tantalizes viewers of “The Doctors”: Pregnant triplets are about to undergo onstage sonograms to determine who’s having multiples. “The results when we come back!”
Steve Wilkos, ex-Marine, wrestler and former security chief on “The Jerry Springer Show,” whips people into shape without subtlety or pretense.
Daytime chat is full of personality, and lots of it. It all comes down to whom viewers want in their homes.
The radio voice turned TV phenom Wendy Williams clearly gets a kick out of herself; her enjoyment of her current ride is contagious. Debriefing Ana Ortiz, there to push “Ugly Betty,” her tone is conspiratorial, confidential and strictly girly, with queasy details about giving birth. Wendy talks about her hair as if it were her co-star.
Tyra Banks presents herself as an actress and host but will forever be perceived as “the former model.” Every time she stumbles over a cue-card introduction, we recall she’s more physically than oratorically gifted.
Dr. Phil doles out commonsense relationship advice and talks about “parenting,” money management, life skills and values. Take responsibility, get real, and talk to your teenagers. When the nonpracticing psychologist and self-help guru Phil McGraw huffs and puffs himself into overdrive, he can be scary.
Whether it’s animation zooming inside the lungs or a quiz about saturated fat, Dr. Oz does more actual teaching than self-aggrandizing. His tips on fitness and health are clear and often surprising; his tone is never judgmental. He makes you want to enjoy a carrot on the couch.
Besides dancing, Ellen De- Generes raises money for charity, lets folks sell their books and movies and does a fine job as an innocuous, mostly nonpolitical host.
In addition to C-list celebrities, it is not uncommon to have adorably quirky old people or children on the afternoon shows. An 8-year-old philanthropist and an 86-year- old speed painter from Florida enliven Bonnie Hunt’s show. Watching Hunt is always a reminder that she should have had a hit sitcom but never found the right vehicle.
Maybe they all could take a hint from relative newbie Dr. Oz and aim to enlighten rather than pander.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
Daytime talkers
Dr. Oz
3-4 p.m. KMGH-Chanel 7
What’s his appeal: Smart, likable relater of health/fitness information.
Where he could be better: Just keep it coming.
Ellen DeGeneres
3-4 p.m. KUSA-Channel 9
What’s her appeal: She’s everygal with a twist, plus music.
Where she could be better: Her gimmick of offering economically strapped families the chance to grab bills out of a wind tunnel in 30 seconds is unseemly, even if she surprises them with a car afterward.
Tyra
4-5 p.m. and 5-6 p.m. KWGN-Channel 2
What’s her appeal: Visual.
Where she could be better: Wish she’d avoid the totally gross.
Dr. Phil
3-4 p.m. KCNC-Chanel 4
What’s his appeal: No-nonsense arbiter of life’s problems.
Where he could be better: The bombast gets old.
Wendy Williams
2-3 p.m. KWGN-Channel 2
What’s her appeal: Supreme lack of pretension.
Where she could be better: Let her keep the rough edges.
Steve Wilkos
1-2 p.m. KWGN-Channel 2
What’s his appeal: The persona of tough guy making things right for the world.
Where he could be better: He always seems slightly unknowable.
“The View”
10-11 a.m. KMGH-Chanel 7
What’s their appeal: Informal, topical, sometimes crazy.
Where they could be better: The overt commercial plugs are annoying.
“The Doctors”
1-2 p.m. KUSA-Channel 9
Their appeal: Jazzier and less serious than Dr. Oz, determinedly peppy.
Where they could be better: Some of these docs seem better suited to selling used cars.
Oprah Winfrey
4 p.m. KCNC-Channel 4
What’s her appeal: She’s just plain likable and still a powerhouse. By now, the audience is emotionally invested.
Where she could be better: Surprise us once in a while.
Top talkers
Denver TV’s top daytime talkers for the month of September:
“Oprah Winfrey” 2.6 rating, or 75,000 average daily local viewers (age 18+)
Fourth hour of “Today”1.7 rating, or 49,000 viewers
“The Doctors” 1.6 rating, 46,000 viewers
“Dr. Phil” 1.5 rating, 43,000 viewers
“Ellen DeGeneres” 1.4 rating, 42,000 viewers
“The View” 1.3 rating, 37,000 viewers
Also see them. . .
Hoda Kotb, on “Dateline NBC”
Sherri Shepherd, on her own sitcom “Sherri,” Tuesdays on Lifetime
Ellen De- Generes, coming to “American Idol” in January
