COUNTRY MUSIC Dolly Parton plans to have fun as host of 'Flameworthy Awards' show

The singer says producers 'never know what to expect' from her on live TV.
By TERRY MORROW
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Dolly Parton says her costume will be staying in place Wednesday when she hosts country music's "The Flameworthy Awards" show live (8 p.m. on CMT). There will be no duplication of Janet Jackson's Super Bowl breast-flashing stunt.
"If I did that, I'd take out the first three rows," Parton says.
The show, honoring the best in country-music video work over the past year, will include a who's who of today's country-music industry. Among the major nominees are Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson and Brad Paisley.
The show is originating from Nashville, Tenn.
Johnny Cash will be memorialized with the Johnny Cash Visionary Award, given to an artist with "extraordinary musical vision," the channel says. This year's recipient will be Reba McEntire.
"Hopefully, it will run real smooth," Parton says. "I'm not expecting to fall or anything, where they'll have to stop the show and pick me up."
Awards-show fixture
This isn't the first time Parton has hosted an awards show. She's headlined almost every major music-awards program, including the Country Music Association Awards and the American Music Awards.
When she isn't a host, she's usually a nominee. For several years now, Parton has been a mainstay nominee at the Grammys in the bluegrass categories.
Parton enjoys doing award shows.
"I love the audience, and they are familiar with me," she says. "I've been around for all these years. So I'm kind of like the mother figure in country music.
"People kind of forgive me of some stuff that they wouldn't forgive some younger people of doing. Plus, [producers] never know what to expect from me on [live] TV.
"I know the business so well, too, that doing [award shows] is comfortable for me, and I like living on the edge like that. I never know what I'm going to say or what I am going to do."
So being a queen of country music has its advantages on live TV?
"I'm not trying to get away with anything, but I could be dangerous on live television," she says with a laugh. "Hopefully, that will make them want to watch even more."
However, Parton says she has her limits: "I am pretty comfortable with myself and know what I should and shouldn't do."
Projects in the works
But Parton will mind her manners because she has other TV projects on tap. Among her plans is a children's series, which she hopes to launch in the next two years. She would star and produce the weekly program, which would be shot at her Dollywood theme park in Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
"I'd love to do it like 'Pee-Wee's Playhouse,'" Parton says. "It will be an over-exaggerated thing where I can play a character, which would be fun for the kids and all."