Well, since I'm outnumbered by two Angelenos, it may have to be LA, which was so exotic to me as a kid. I was in NY watching the LA soaps, can you believe it? I regret that now that everybody is leaving the city to do their shows in LA. Daytime & syndicated TV NEEDS a fine balance between the LA-produced and NY-produced stuff (and Chicago shows, Jenny Jones). All these cities (and their studio audiences) give the game shows, soaps and talk shows their own distinct flavor. God forbid Regis & Kelly ever transfer to LA.

You got that right, the shooting location for these shows did an awful lot for their tone. I think it should be LA too.

Since it's the alt-90s (which is coming back into fashion after two years of 80s influence, FYI), we need to hang out at Michael Mancini's beachhouse from Melrose Place. We'll stick Don Henley's Boys of Summer, along with some En Vogue and Boyz 2 Men, on the sound system, sip some vodka & cranberry juice, spaz out over the fact that soaps come on at the ungodly hour of 11.30 friggin am on the West Coast, and hunker down for some Sonny & Brenda drama with a side dish of Ricki Lake and Jenny Jones. And the Mighty Opes. Yes, she is a self-important windbag whose sheep-like audience robotically obey her every order, but her heart is also in the right place AND even the most preachy Oprah episodes ALWAYS have a hook to pull in Trashskis like me. Hello, Tom Cruisebot nearly self-destructed on her sofa!

Michael Mancini's beach house?! Perfect! En Vogue, Boyz 2 Men...heaven.

And then we throw in Sonny & Brenda (THOSE were the days). Ricki Lake, Jenny Jones, Sally Jesse Raphael and Oprah Winfrey (back when she had those cheesy diamond shape graphics!) to fill the talk void. And then we'd have to throw in some Donahue to make ourselves feel intelligent.

Also, while you LA insiders are giving Aaron Spelling consulting pointers on his soon-to-be launched Malibu Shores and Titans (hint: not on NBC!!), I can catch up with Martha Stewart Living because I have a soft spot in my heart for that OCD perfectionist jailbird. Beach-houses can always do with an extra throw-pillow.

Poor Titans, that show could have been amazing. Hell, it was amazing...but you got it, not on NBC, the network that has never successfully aired a primetime soap!

But I'm with you watching some Martha...LOVE her.

Exactly! And for me, it's the simple fact that she excels at three things that gets me. She's far from an expert on all of it, but she speaks with such knowledge and ability no matter what the topic is. Any time I watch the gardening show, I'm tempted to start one of my own.

Martha's work ethic appeals to me, but I think what I enjoy most is how unapologetic she is about being this tough, cold person who does what she wants when she wants. She is rock solid and in spite of never seriously conforming to any sort of idea of the media which trashed her ruthlessly, she's managed to carve out a very successful career for herself. I also enjoy how openly rude she can be to her guests. And her April Fool's Day shows always crack me up. Just about no one else does those.

As for 90s nostalgia, I did enjoy a lot of the stuff which came on in the first half of the decade, but it seems like the second half became very derivative. I also remember a ton of nostalgia starting around 1995 and 1996 and just building up and up. That's when VH1 started to get more notice, when they became so much about nostalgia (8 Track Flashback is better than most of the stuff on that channel today). I think that was around the time that America sort of started giving up on new trends or a consistent idea or fad and just going back to comforting themselves in what used to be. That's also around the time that TV started becoming less progressive and more reactionary and homogenized.

Edited April 24, 201015 yr by CarlD2

Isn't Martha Stewart also a liar and a fraud? A convicted one? Who served jail time? No?

And this whole idea of I like how rude she is! Yay! and then people go on complaining how the whole world is just rude and nasty. No wonder then, when rudeness and impoliteness is celebrated as a great thing!

Isn't Martha Stewart also a liar and a fraud? A convicted one? Who served jail time? No?

And this whole idea of I like how rude she is! Yay! and then people go on complaining how the whole world is just rude and nasty. No wonder then, when rudeness and impoliteness is celebrated as a great thing!

I like Whatever, Martha on FLN. her daughter and her friend like mock her. Its brilliant.

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Isn't Martha Stewart also a liar and a fraud? A convicted one? Who served jail time? No?

And this whole idea of I like how rude she is! Yay! and then people go on complaining how the whole world is just rude and nasty. No wonder then, when rudeness and impoliteness is celebrated as a great thing!

Martha earned her right to be rude Talk show hosts are usually rude anyway, some just do it with a fake grin. She doesn't bother.

Martha's convictions probably had as much to do with her giving money to Democrats as they did with anything else...

Edited April 24, 201015 yr by CarlD2

Still, Carl, it was illegal what she did. She was also convicted of obstruction of justice.

Martha earned her right to be rude

That doesn't really exist. Especially if you are a convicted criminal.

That doesn't really exist. Especially if you are a convicted criminal.

If she had knifed people, sure. With the charges she faced, it's hard to care as much, especially when the Enron names got a slap on the wrist.

Fine. Your choice. Relativistic justice.

I was probably more disturbed by the tabloid stories that claimed she ran over a neighbor or a gardener or something in a fit of fury.

The only talk shows that were ever any good were Morton Downey Jr and Richard Bey. Everytime I see the Oprah show I have to turn it off in 5 mins because it is so bad it makes me angry. The audience should be ashamed of itself the way they jump and squeal over every little thing.

My dad was a HUGE Morton Downey, Jr. fan, we watched that all the time. That's the last time I remember a host smoking so openly and unabashedly on a TV show. He and Geraldo just LOVED to have on the white supremacists.

Richard Bey and Gordon something, he was British/Australian, they both had trashy shows that came on at like 4/5am in my area, I only caught them when I had to get up super early to finish the papers I always wrote at the last minute.

And speaking of Oprah, do you remember her girlfriend Gayle King's shortlived show? Oprah really didn't want her to do it, apparently she'd hoped to have Gayle do more and more segments on her show and perhaps take over should Oprah decide to move on to something else. This was over a decade ago though, obviously things worked out a little differently (Gayle at O Magazine, Gayle's radio show and new show on OWN, et cetera).

Gordon Elliott. His show always seemed a bit of an afterthought, he would have been better off in another format, or hosting ET or Access Hollywood. He had a lot of charisma. He went on to do some stuff for Fine Living.

Morton Downey Jr went on to say he deeply regretted all that smoking.

Morton Downey Jr went on to say he deeply regretted all that smoking.

Indeed, he got the worst kind of wake up call.

Martha did break the law and she did serve the time. What more is there to say? I won't even pretend to know the ins and outs of what she did, but the fact that she was convicted and went to jail and still manage to come out and bounce back better than ever has to be a testament to something. Either the people's willingness to forgive or Martha's ability to do her thang. Possibly both. Besides, whatever law-breaking she did does not negate the fact that home girl knows how to work the perennials.

Speaking of scandals and such, how about all of those tabloid "news" shows. Really, I'm just talking about Hard Copy, which was all the rage for a while.

And A Current Affair hosted by Maury Povich, then Maureen O'Boyle! <<shhhhewwwwww-BAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH!!>>