Monday, September 11, 2000
'Dr. Laura' makes Channel 9 debut
By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The doctor is in, and she looks like Phil Donahue. Radio radio talk host Dr. Laura Schlessinger debuts her Dr. Laura TV show today (10 a.m., Channel 9), which has been the target of gay activists upset by her radio comments.
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ON THE AIR
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The Dr. Laura television show debuts today and will air weekdays at 10 a.m. on WCPO-TV (Channel 9). Today's topic is “Teens & Drugs: What To Do?” The radio show airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon on WKRC-AM (550).
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From her six-minute preview tape, it looks like her producers have kept their word to TV stations. “She's not going tobe bashing gays, or making any derogatory comments,” says Bill Fee, Channel 9 general manager.
Clips of shows taped last month reminded me of the old Donahue show (1970-96), and not the free-for-alls between family and friends on Maury Povich, Ricki Lake or Jerry Springer.
Scenes from “Teens and Drugs,” which may be today's premiere, showed her talking to experts and parents at a table, and later interviewing teens and people in her studio audience.
Though she apparently won't be criticizing gays, she won't back down on her strident comments about fidelity, parental responsibilities or sexually explicit materials available at public libraries.
“I've been ranting and raving for several years about the problem I have about the American Library Association,” she said in a clip from “Lewd Libraries,” scheduled for Friday. For that show, she sent a 15-year-old girl into a Denver public library with a hidden camera that recorded how easily she could find pornography on the Internet.
Channel 9 is one of 175 TV stations airing Dr. Laura. Mr. Fee says he never considered canceling the show, even after Procter & Gamble pulled out as an investor and sponsor.
The nationwide “Stop Dr. Laura” campaign has had little impact here. Channel 9 received about one letter, call or e-mail a week last month, down from one a day in June. Reaction is running 4-to-1 in favor of Dr. Laura, he says.
All commercials in Dr. Laura have been sold for premiere week. Only 74 percent of the spots have been sold for next week, he says.
Girlfriends: That old saying about “the first shall be last” comes to mind watching UPN's Girlfriends (9:30 p.m., Channel 25), the first of 30 new fall shows.
Tracee Ellis Ross (Diana's daughter from Lyricist Lounge), Golden Brooks (Linc's Place), Persia White (The Last Action Hero) and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Jill Jones star in this African-American version of HBO's Sex and the City, or an updated Living Single. Unlike the HBO show, these Girlfriends offer little insight into male-female relationships. If you remove the sex jokes, the screen would be blank for a half-hour.
Mara Brock Akil (Moesha, The Jamie Fox Show) created the series. It is being produced by Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), Erlanger native Dee LaDuke and Cincinnati native Mark Alton Brown, son of retired attorney Allen Brown.
Talk show highlights: Al Gore on Oprah Winfrey (4 p.m., Channels 9, 2); Boyz II Men on Live with Regis (9 a.m., Channel 9); Paternity tests on Maury (1 p.m., Channel 19) and Ricki Lake (5 p.m., Channel 19).
Around the dial: Ann Marie Tiernon from Indianapolis debuts as Dave Wagner's co-anchor today at 5, 6 and 11 p.m. on WLWT (Channel 5). She replaces Norma Rashid.
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