Joan Rivers (Kristina Bumphrey/Startraksphoto)
Pat Sajak (Kristina Bumphrey/Starpix)
Anderson Cooper (REUTERS)
If the thought of having another Kardashian on the TV makes you want to run for the hills, lace up your sneakers now, because here comes Kris Jenner. Yes, the mastermind behind the Kardashian franchise, the Mama Rose of reality television, is trying her hand at a daily talk show that debuts Monday on Fox. It’s a six-week tryout.
Becoming a talk-show host is the dream of many women who came of age in the Oprah era, and Jenner is no exception: “I’ve always dreamt of having my own talk show,” she says, in an interview at her lavish home in Malibu, decorated almost exclusively in black and white. “I grew up on Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas, and one of my best friends is Kathie Lee Gifford. She always seemed so happy to go to work.”
Between reality-show stints, Jenner and her husband, Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner, have been appearing as guests on talk shows since the 1990s. In the past few years, she’s guest-hosted CBS’s “The Talk,” ABC’s “The View” and NBC’s fourth hour of “Today,” replacing Gifford, in fact.
“I’m comfortable in the TV talk environment,” Jenner says. “I love to talk, and I come to the table with a ton of experience. I’m in my 50s. I’ve been married a couple of times. I have six children and three grandchildren. I feel like I’ve lived nine lives.”
Jenner also knows what it’s like to live in the limelight, having been on eight seasons of E!’s “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and its attendant spin-offs, all of which Jenner executive produces with Ryan Seacrest and his production company.
“That will be another great aspect of my show,” she says. “You’ll hear exactly what’s going on with us, right from the horse’s mouth. You won’t have to wonder if the ridiculous stuff that people write about us is true or not.
“I told my kids when we first got started with all of this, ‘Please don’t read what they write about us on the Internet, 99.9 percent of it isn’t true,’ ” she says. “I’ve been really lucky because we all work so much. My family, every one of them, has the most amazing work ethic. We don’t have time to hang out on social media all day long. We try to do some fun things that we want to do, and then it’s back to work.”
Jenner also knows what her fans want to see, and that’s her family.
“Of course, they will appear on the show. Why not?” she says. “We have a show that airs in more than 150 countries. People associate me with my family. This talk show is a really great opportunity for our fans to learn a little bit more about me and some of the things that I love to do.”
Right now, the big question is whether Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend, rapper Kanye West, will make an appearance with their new baby girl, North West. “You’ll have to tune in and see,” Jenner slyly says.
Jenner won’t be on her own during her six-week talk trial: a different co-host will sit beside on the couch each day on a set that looks exactly like the foyer of her Malibu home.
“We’ll have people join me, like Ryan Seacrest, Kathie Lee Gifford, Mario Lopez, my daughter Khloe, NeNe Leakes, Diddy, Brooke Burke, Tom Bergeron, Maria Menounos and Carlos Ponce,” she says. “We’re going to be a safe — not snarky — place to come hang out.”
Jenner says that starring on her own talk show wasn’t something she foresaw.
“I never expected this,” she says. “Ten years ago, did I think that this is exactly where I would be today? No. But am I excited and happy and just thrilled with the way that my life went? Yes. Our family has the best time together. With or without cameras, I would be living my life in exactly the same way.”
THE KRIS JENNER SHOW
Monday, 11 a.m., Fox
TALK-SHOW
If Kris Jenner hopes that celebrity alone is preparation enough to host a talk show, she should take a gander at those who’ve gone before her and fallen flat on their faces. — Larry Getlen
1. The Chevy Chase Show (Fox, Sept.-Oct. 1993)
Ratings: Premiered with a 5.7 rating. In one month, ratings were down to barely 2.0.
Reviews: Time said Chase brought “too little experience and too much ego” to the show.
2. The Late Show (with Joan Rivers) (Fox, Oct. 1986-May 1987)
Ratings: So bad that certain local stations would only agree to become Fox affiliates if they didn’t have to carry the show. Rivers’ averaged a 2.7.
Reviews: The New York Times said the show, on which Rivers attacked “Dallas” star Victoria Principal, then gave out her home phone number on the air, carried “a hint of sadness.”
3. The Pat Sajak Show (CBS, Jan. 1989-April 1990)
Ratings: After a few months with a decent 3.6, Sajak began a steep decline. A year later, his average was down to 2.6.
Reviews: The Chicago Tribune said his material was “a combination of nickel-and-dime routines and bits that would be tossed into the gabage can in the offices of David Letterman’s writers.”
4. The Magic Hour (with Magic Johnson) (Syndicated, June-August 1998)
Ratings: An anemic 1.6.
Reviews: The L.A. Times wrote that he was “totally unqualified” for the job, calling him “unclever, unwitty and often visibly uncomfortable.”
5. Thicke of the Night (Alan Thicke) (Syndicated, September 1983-June 1984)
Ratings: Thicke averaged a 2.0, low enough for local station WNEW to shift the show from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. to stop the bleeding.
Reviews: People Magazine called Thicke “aggressively boring,” adding, “It is humanly impossible to watch Alan Thicke for more than 10 minutes at a time.”
6. Anderson (with Anderson Cooper)
(Syndicated, September 2011 – August 2013)
Ratings: Cooper, by the second season, was pulling in just a 1.3 rating and the show’s cancellation was announced well
in advance of its last air date.
Reviews: Variety described the show thusly: “‘Real. Raw. Ready’ the [show’s] introduction said. But ‘Calculated. Cool. Colorless’ seemed a better description.”