‘THERE IS A NEW GENERATION OF VIEWERS AT HOME NOW’
TYRA Banks is using her new talk show to reach young women – an audience largely ignored in daytime since “Ricki Lake” departed a few years ago.
Banks hopes to mesh with her viewers in a big sister-type of way, offering advice and life lessons in a non-threatening manner to young women entering an emotionally tricky time of their lives.
“We want to bring young women back [to television],” says Jim Paratore, president of Telepictures, producer of “The Tyra Banks Show.”
“I think in the last few years that [younger women] audience has been ignored. Ricki [Lake] served it for a while, but there is a new generation of viewers at home now, in that 18- to 34-year-old range, who haven’t had a show for them in a while.
“We’re going back to try to create a franchise around that audience.”
Banks, the supermodel famously known as the host of “America’s Next Top Model,” has made no secret of her mission to empower young women – a mission she’s already incorporated into “The Tyra Banks Show,” which kicked off this week on Ch. 9 (5 p.m.).
On her very first show, Banks featured a segment with several young girls from her “TZONE,” a program she started to enhance independence and self-esteem in teenage girls.
“Those girls are very important to me – they’re a part of my whole mission in life and part of what I believe is going to be a big part of this show,” Banks says.
“Think of this show as a more adult ‘TZONE for Women.’ ”
“The editorial focus of the show is more on young adult women in their 20s or early 30s,” says Paratore, “who are sort of in transition and have to stop being a kid . . . and are dealing with the realities of that transition.”
Paratore says Banks’ ability to relate to young women may also translate into a broader range of viewers once “The Tyra Banks Show” establishes itself.
“Tyra is also a good conduit between mothers and their younger daughters,” he says.
“There are a lot of moms who come to Tyra and say, ‘Can you tell my daughter that she needs to study harder or work harder – can you help me reach my daughter?’
“I think that’s going to bring in more women in the 35-49 age range who will watch the show with their daughters,” he says.
Says Banks: “My overriding theme would be to empower women to be in control of their destinies rather than having stuff happen to them.
“I owe a lot of that to my mom – and I want to spread that message across to all my viewers.”