Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 30, 1994 TAG: 9403310275
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ED BARK DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The president of Leeza Gibbons Enterprises is now host of a new daytime talk show titled "Leeza" (weekdays at 11 a.m. on WSLS-Channel 10). She also has a weekly radio countdown program - "The Top 25 with Leeza Gibbons" - and is completing her first decade on "Entertainment Tonight."
"My schedule is a nightmare," she says from her home in Hollywood. "It's like chronic PMS or something. The mandate is to get home for bath time, story time and bedtime."
Lexi, 5, and Troy, 2, call her mom. Her husband is actor Stephen Meadows. Answering to them is part of everyday home life. Answering to nobody on the job is a brand new experience for her.
"This is the first time I've really had my own candy store," she says of "Leeza." "And it is more fun than I should be permitted to have. Win or lose, I want to have my stamp on this show. Everything from the pictures hanging on the wall to the lighting to the theme music. That's important to me, because I've never really been in a position to accomplish that before. It's not a power trip, but I really want to take responsibility for my own show."
"Leeza" premiered Jan. 17 on NBC, following "John & Leeza," the short-lived "Leeza" predecessor co-hosted by John Tesh.
"Leeza" puts the host in league with Oprah Winfrey, Sally Jessy Raphael, Jane Whitney, Shirley Solomon, Bertice Berry, Ricki Lake, Rolonda Watts - deep breath - Vicki Lawrence and Jenny Jones. And those are only the women hosting their own daytime talk programs. Phil wore a dress once, but that doesn't count.
"There's a tremendous amount of pressure, not just to be different, but to be good and to be distinctive," Gibbons says. "I do believe I'll be strong in this format. I don't mean that from a cocky perspective, but I think it utilizes a lot of things that I do well. I think people probably pick what show they want to watch based on topics. But they will always sample the host first. That's what I'm trying to be - the host they go to first."
Gibbons, who describes daytime talk shows as "the therapy of the '90s," says she wants to provide a "comfortable" setting for her troubled patients.
"I do take great care to make people feel safe," she says. "They're not going to be ganged up on."
Indeed, on a recent show, Gibbons lightly scolded her studio audience for reacting negatively to a young man who cheated on his wife by sleeping with her sister. The wife compounded their marital problems by cheating in turn.
"As an audience, we need to really just give them credit for being here," she reminded the gaspers and jeerers in attendance.
Infidelity seems to be topic A for any self-respecting daytime talk program. "It seems like it's the fastest-growing sport in America," Gibbons says.
In production meetings for "Leeza," she rejects some subjects as being too "bizarre" or self-pitying. It was a no-go for a proposed show about women who wondered why they never got a call-back after a first date.
"I'm not going to have whiny, sniveling women who theoretically confront some guy who blew their romantic fantasy," she says. "I don't want that kind of guest."
Gibbons has no plans to quit "Entertainment Tonight," which is a "great gig and also provides a great deal of security." But she wants to be seen as more than a "versatile pinch-hitter who never got a chance to be known for a particular strength."
"Leeza" puts her name up front, but on a network that chronically has had the weakest daytime schedule.
"It's a little bit of a curse," she says, "because they [NBC programmers] have churned that daytime schedule so much that a lot of people don't even know `John & Leeza' is off the air. But if this show goes away, you can be sure it will go away with me kicking and fighting and strategizing."
by CNB