CBS–stupidly–is canceling 54 year old “As the World Turns.” They’re replacing it on September 20th with their own version of “The View.”
But this new show could be more of a soap than “World Turns” from what I hear.
The word inside is that there’s already trouble among the personalities hired to host this lame attempt at late afternoon chitchat. And this should get interesting. The ladies chosen for the show are Julie Chen as moderator, with Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Sara Gilbert, Leah Remini, and Marisa Jaret Winokur. (Think about this: an Asian, a Jew, a Black, a Lesbian, a Scientologist, and a person who was on Broadway. Talk about demographics!)
The word is that Sharon Osbourne, who takes no prisoners and suffers no fools, is not so happy with Peete, with whom she just shared a season of “The Celebrity Apprentice.” Osbourne doesn’t have much use for Scientologist Leah Remini, either, from what I am told. Her alliances are with Chen and with Sara Gilbert, former “Rosenanne” actress and real life lesbian mom.
One insider to the still unnamed show told me: “I doubt it will run very long.” CBS is trading the stablity of five decades with “World Turns” for this potential daytime drama. Yikes.
Chen is the only member of this squad with news experience. I like Julie, but she suffers from charges of nepotism since she’s married to CBS chief Les Moonves. She now appears on the Early Show and hosts “Big Brother.” The joke at CBS is that she’s in line to get a “CSI” gig at this rate.
Remini should prove to be a big problem on the new show, especially if she starts espousing Scientology dogma about psychiatry and psychotropic drugs for children. Many of the mothers whom CBS hopes will watch have made hard decisions to give their ADHD children Ritalin. It’s a controversy in the making.
Will these gals get along? Or will the whole thing turn into the predicted unruly squabble? We’ll have to wait and see once the show debuts, but it sounds like it won’t take too long.
