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Marissa Jaret Winokur Is Ready For a New View on 'The Talk
Parade.com: by Fran Carpentier
On October 18, six celebrity moms -- Julie Chen, Sara Gilbert, Marissa Jaret Winokur, Sharon Osbourne, Leah Remini, and Holly Robinson Peete -- will take on the five babes of ABC's The View (led by TV news veteran Barbara Walters) in a new daily talk show on CBS that is aimed largely at the interests and angsts of modern-day parents. The new show is aptly named The Talk.
Parade.com caught up with Marissa Jaret Winokur -- who, until now, was best known as the Tony Award-winning actress/singer from Hairspray, a popular contestant on Season 6 of Dancing With the Stars, and, most recently, the host of Oxygen’s Dance Your Ass Off.
Six high-profile women sharing one stage. Some would call that a recipe for disaster. Will any of you have a special beat?
"I'm regularly going out in the field like a correspondent, but I hate using that word. I'll be talking with parents on the street, in the park, in a coffee shop, asking them about, you know, real things, getting the hands-on stuff from moms and the dads. I like to say it this way: 'I walk The Talk.'"
So your segments will be similar to "Jaywalking," Jay Leno's comic man-in-the-street interviews?
"Well, my segments will definitely have that feel. But I'm going to have a lot more heart and a lot more acceptance. I'm not going out on the street to make people look stupid. I'm going out to have a good time with them and learn from them. They won't have to say, 'Oh, no! Here she comes! She's going to turn this around to make me look like an ass!' I'm not doing any slander TV. I never will. I really feel that, right now, there's a place for this show in people's lives."
Taking on The View takes guts. Other than emphasizing issues of interest to parents, won't this essentially be just another talk show with celebrities?
"Our emphasis will be on what is important to moms and dads, but also are going to have people in the news, authors, experts, etc. There will be a lot of segments on healthy food. There also will be personal, at-home footage of us with our own families. And speaking for myself, I am not so obsessed with celebrity. I am so much more impressed with the woman who has five kids. How does she do it? My mom had four kids -- how is she alive?! Sometimes, I can't handle life with just one kid! Also, I've heard enough from celebrity moms who say, 'I do it by myself.'
No we don't! We have help. Of course, we have help! How would we work all the time if we didn't have help? On The Talk, I want to show real parents doing real things. I'm as real as it comes when it comes to being a parent. I know the stress that I have as a parent -- meanwhile, I have a husband, and help with my son, and a career, and money. I don't know how people do it with less. I don't know how a teenage mom does it at all.
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