TELEVISION Ratings race is on for new talk shows joining fall lineup

The industry has high hopes for 'The Jane Pauley Show.'
By MAUREEN RYAN
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
It sounds like the answer to a "Jeopardy!" question: Tony Danza, Jane Pauley and Pat O'Brien.
The question: What celebrities headline the most highly anticipated new syndicated offerings this fall?
There's no new "Dr. Phil"-size hit in the offing, but industry insiders are cautiously optimistic about the chances of "The Tony Danza Show," "The Jane Pauley Show" and "The Insider," a celeb-centric show spun off from "Entertainment Tonight" and hosted by O'Brien.
A chat/self-help show helmed by radio personality Larry Elder is also being touted as a potential success story, and several new shows taking advantage of the televised-makeover craze will hit the daytime airwaves as well.
Hopes are highest for the Pauley show, which premiered Aug. 30.
"Jane Pauley is highly anticipated," says associate media buyer Terri McKinzie of Chicago's Starcom Worldwide, which places TV spots for dozens of leading advertisers. "NBC has a lot riding on this show."
Pauley's program has been snapped up by an impressive 205 stations, which cover 99.3 percent of the nation.
And given that her new autobiography, "Skywriting," touches on her recent battle with bipolar disorder, the former "Dateline" anchor may have fodder from her own life for the new show.
'E.T.' spinoff
"The Insider," which will be unabashedly celeb-heavy, will air in many markets just before the syndicated show that spawned it, "Entertainment Tonight."
"In order for ['The Insider'] to succeed, they're going to have to differentiate themselves from 'E.T.,'" McKinzie says. "It'll be interesting to see if that genre has gotten too crowded."
As for the Tony Danza show, expectations aren't quite as high, considering that shows starring personalities such as Sharon Osbourne, Ryan Seacrest and Emmy winner Wayne Brady have crashed and burned in recent months.
Perhaps to give the show a dash of appeal to younger viewers, the sidekick on Danza's show will be Ereka Vetrini, a contestant on "The Apprentice."
The new show from Elder, who starred in the syndicated program "Moral Court" in the 2000-01 TV season, will have a bit of that "Dr. Phil" tough-love flavor.
"I think Larry Elder holds himself to a high standard -- I don't think he's going to have those shows like 'My Mother Dresses Like My Teen Sister,' which may prove to be a ratings challenge for the show," McKinzie says.
Success for DeGeneres
Since the blockbuster debut of "Dr. Phil" in 2002, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" has been syndicated television's most notable success story.
Nationally, the show's Nielsen ratings have risen 15 percent since its debut in September 2003.
"I seem to appeal to everybody," DeGeneres says. "I'm finding that men watch the show -- [executives] didn't expect that at all. There are a lot of men who tape the show and watch it at night.
"But I don't really know who my audience is," laughs DeGeneres. "I'm hoping it's whoever the advertisers want."
'Oprah' still at top
Queen of the daytime chat scene, of course, is still Oprah Winfrey, who recently inked a deal to stay at the helm of her show through 2011, when the show will celebrate its 25th year.
It's rumored that the daytime diva is developing a home-decor show starring designer and frequent "Oprah" guest Nate Berkus; if so, the Berkus show might face a crowded makeover-TV market.
"Ambush Makeover," in which people are stopped on the street for impromptu fixer-uppers, has been testing in a few markets, including Chicago, and goes national Monday.
Also debuting that day are "Home Delivery," a makeover show in which people, their homes and their lives are revamped, and "Moving In," a program in which self-help author Pat Croce pushes people to change their lives.