MANILA, Philippines — Do you want to host a talk-variety show on TV? You could get useful pointers by watching popular hosts at work and figure out what they’re doing right.
Take talk show queen Oprah Winfrey. She definitely has the gift of gab, but viewers especially like her because she boosts a lot of important causes, helps people become better persons and wears her heart on her sleeve.
In addition, she impresses viewers because she’s successful not just as a host, but also as a producer, publisher and discoverer of other TV talents, like Rachel Ray, Dr. Phil, Nate Burkis and other new personalities who now host their own shows.
Offering instructive contrast to Oprah is Ellen DeGeneres, who has successfully made the big shift from sitcom star and stand-up comic to TV talk-variety program host. Ellen’s achievement has been even more remarkable, because she’s openly gay, has married a woman and yet has been accepted by the mainstream TV audience. That’s no mean feat, so extra props go to her.
Compare Ellen’s hosting style to that of another gender-bending personality, Rosie O’Donnell, who unfortunately ended up turning viewers off with her sour and bitchy tirades. Ellen shows how you can be edgy and controversial without committing suicide on TV.
On “The View,” which has four or five hosts at a time, the competition is really keen but the hosts generally get along and even like each other. Diversity is the name of their game, with Whoopi Goldberg acting as the designated driver.
The “Today” show also dotes on diversity and variety, with main hosts Matt Laver and Meredith Vieira supported by the likeable likes of news segment reporter Ann Curry and the occasionally off-putting Al Roker. He’s supposed to do that weather report and provide fun and games, but he sometimes gets carried away and rubs both guests and his co-hosts the wrong way.
Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, who co-host the fourth hour of “Today,” have another kind of relationship going. At first, they were a study in opposites, with Hoda clearly holding the shorter end of the stick as Kathy Lee dominated her like a house on fire.
After a while, however, viewers sided with Hoda and Kathy Lee had to tone down her upstaging tactics, and they’re now the best of friends.
On the down side, Rachel Ray hosts a good, no-fuss home cooking show, but she has problems as a communicator, because she’s often hoarse and talks too much of a blue streak.
As for Tyra Banks, her espousal of minority and teen causes is laudable, but she’s sometimes too edgy for her own good and turns off some viewers with her overly opinionated and hyper hosting manner.
So, whose hosting style will you choose for yourself? Better still, create a style that’s unique to you— that’s the real ticket to success on TV!
