The Hollywood Exclusive - Column by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

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The Hollywood Exclusive: Hunt Gets Daring with New Show, Plans 'Intelligence'/Keisha Whitaker Juggles TV Show, Kids, Business, Forest

Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith

Bonnie Hunt is planning something daring with her "Bonnie Hunt Show" daytime offering that premieres Monday (9/8). Brace yourselves: She's using words like "authenticity" and "intelligence."

She's also invoking names like Steve Allen, Johnny Carson, David Letterman and "Dinah Shore. Hers was such a comforting show. I looked forward to seeing it after school," says Hunt. "I was too young to really watch it myself, but my mom did, and it always put her in such a good mood."

The actress of "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Beethoven" movie fame says that the idea of hosting her own chat show came up when she was playing a talk show host on her 2002-2004 "Life With Bonnie" sitcom. She says producer "Don Lake and I discovered so much while we were working on the series. The talk show parts were unscripted and produced like a regular talk show."

She was approached several times about doing such a show for real, and when she decided the time was right ("I'm not getting any younger"), she and Lake put their heads together again. "We want to do something that is as smart as we can make it, and as complimentary to our audience -- which will be mostly women at home each day."

Commercials in which she's seen chatting with a little boy who scoffs at the silly idea of "The Terminator" becoming the governor of California, and in which her mother chides her about her failed marriage, are a preview of the kind of improvised bits viewers will see on the show, says Hunt, who'll bring her improvisational background to the fore. Her first guest is Robin Williams, and Hunt reports other showbiz friends will be showing up as well. "I'm humbled and flattered by the response."

"The talk show has been one of my favorite formats, but over the last 10 years or so, daytime talk shows -- not all of them -- have become so sensationalized, like they're produced in a panic," she observes. "And they usually go one of two ways. They're either about celebrities or have a lot of DNA testing."

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FROM THE INSIDE LOOKING OUT: Keisha Whitaker, host of TLC's "Who Are You Wearing" and wife of actor Forest, admits she can't help but relate to the moms who are contestants on the show, in which designer wannabes compete in creating red carpet-worthy gowns for celebrities.

Contestants range from set designers to newly minted design school grads, to those family women "who put their dreams or aspirations aside to care for their children, and have now rediscovered their love for design."

The model-turned-TV personality back-burnered her own professional desires for a while when daughters Autumn, 16, Sonnet, 12, and True, 10, were younger. But now, "They're getting older, and I'm in a position to do more things," she says. She and makeup artist AJ Crimson launched their Kissable Couture cosmetics line a year ago. She's completed 10 episodes of "Who Are You Wearing."

"When I was doing the show, it was a little bit of a juggle. My husband was starting a movie in New Orleans (the upcoming "Hurricane Season." Normally I go and kind of help get him prepared and make a home. This time, he was able to come back and be with me and the girls over weekends, so that was a little bit of a reversal," she says. And it was "a little bit of a challenge with the girls in their last few days of school, the end-of-semester cello recital and pool parties." But the energetic Whitaker is not complaining. "I have great people who help and support me. When I look back at my mother and grandmother, I don't know how they managed to do all they did."

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FUNNY BUSINESS: Kurtwood Smith is back in the TV dad business -- playing comedic actor Kyle Bornheimer's despairing father-in-law to-be on CBS's upcoming "Worst Week." He considers himself "fortunate in that, with this show -- as with 'That '70s Show' -- the comedy comes from character and character-based relationships and situations. There aren't a lot of jokey jokes. This also has a lot of physical comedy from Kyle." Smith says though they've all gone separate ways, he does keep in touch with some of his former "That '70s Show" cohorts, including his series wife of eight years, Debra Jo Rupp, and Danny Masterson. "I've seen Laura Prepon a couple of times. I haven't seen some of them in a while -- haven't seen Topher (Grace) in a couple of years now, Ashton (Kutcher) I haven't seen for a while. But I still have great affection for them. It's one of those things, we'll always have affection for each other. They grew up on that show."

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YOU WAIT ALL YOUR LIFE TO GROW UP, AND THEN ... : Cheetah Girl and "House Bunny" costar Kiely Williams has been busy working all summer, except for a quick getaway weekend in July when she celebrated her 22nd birthday in Las Vegas. "The thing I was actually the most surprised about was that there were a lot of kids there," she tells us. "I thought it was like a total gambling thing, but I got recognized a bunch and thought that's crazy."

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With reports by Emily Feimster. To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

Copyright 2008 Creators Syndicate Inc.

This news arrived on: 09/03/2008

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