If you were a talk show host what would you avoid, and add, based on what you have seen so far?

I wouldn’t want animals on the show although I’m an animal lover. I’ve seen them do things the host wasn’t expecting, poop, pee, bite, hump legs. Wait, maybe I would want animals.

I would avoid:
Animal acts
Stupid bits like masterbaiting polar bears (hello, Conan)
Wearing a suit if you end up looking like a little boy going to church (Hello, Kimmel)
Booking music acts I don’t like (you can’t tell me Jon Stewart likes the Foo Fighters)
Making any deals with Jay Leno
Running against Johnny Carson

In an effort to get familiar with the UK’s pop culture, I started watching Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and The Graham Norton Show. Jonathan Ross’ style wasn’t to my taste. He brings on one guest at a time, while the others sit in what appears to be another room with shots of them watching. Once a guest is done, they are excused, and the next one appears. It just seems odd. His jokes weren’t that funny, IMO. And then he made some inappropriate comments…potentially damaging his career.

Graham Norton, on the other hand, brings, in most cases, all of the guests out at once. He has a crack team that does the research on the guests and plots out the agenda. It’s obvious that Mr. Norton studies up on the guest information. He has the ability to keep to the agenda while allowing for the unexpected. He is considerate in keeping all of the guests engaged in the conversation, even if the discussion is not about them at the moment.

I would ask more evocative questions like James Lipton does on Inside the Actor’s Studio.

I would also have cooking segments where the host brings in a chef (celebrity or un-known up and coming) who makes the guest’s favorite dish in a new and fabulous way. The host would have to do his/her homework to find out what that dish is ahead of time. The guest gets to help with the prep and learn how to make the dish, just like the viewers at home. At the end of the season, a cookbook will be made with all of the recipes and photos of the chefs and the guests and the host. Proceeds of sale of the books will go to charity.

I would also like the host to bring on another person (celebrity or not) who is very important to the guest, who the guest has either not met (because it is a celebrity) or someone like a teacher or a long lost relative that the guest has not seen in ages (the visitor would provide interesting questions and anecdotes) kind of like they used to do on This is Your Life. Wouldn’t you love to see Meg Ryan or Gwyneth Paltrow get all gushy over meeting their own favorite celebrity?

I love TV and movie cast re-unions, so I would throw in a few of those every now and then. Oprah recently had the cast of The Sound of Music on her show. Very cool.

I would love to see a segment called Duets, in which the host invites 2 singers, that aren’t known for performing with each other (or even necessarily in the same genre) come on and sing a duet. Of course the song, the singers and the rehearsing would all be done ahead of time, but it would be a surprise to the audience. You’d never know who you were going to see and hear. Then (like Glee) CD’s could be made of the performances over a season and the proceeds for the sale of the songs and CD’s would be donated to charity. I wouldn’t mind seeing Michael Buble sing with Shania Twain, or John Legend sing with Dido, or Susan Boyle sing with Andrea Bocelli or Willie Nelson sing with Miley Cyrus.

At the end of each show the host would throw out a word for the day (something that isn’t completely un-common, but isn’t used very much or at all, but is a great word) and use it in a sentence. Just trying to up the vocabulary in our country. Plus I love words and it is a talk show!

Talking! Now there’s a twist.

Thank you all. The question had been in editing after a while because Fluther felt it is better in the social section. I’m looking at it from serious point of view

….I mean I was looking at it from a serious point of view so that is why I didn’t put it in the social section. You have all given serious answers

Dr. Oz gave away a plane ticket on April 14?/11 to someone who answered a question correctly on his show. Do you have any thoughts on that?

@flo With regards to the fact that he gave away a plane ticket for answering a question, or do you mean about the question itself that was answered? I didn’t see the show, so you’ll have to fill me in on the details.

I like it when hosts give away DVD boxed sets (to the whole audience) from shows that their guests are on. And I think it’s neat if somehow the host knows ahead of time that some particular person is in their audience that is in need of something big (like a handicapped equipped van, or a respite trip to Disneyland for a wearied care-giver) and they surprise that person with the gift. I like that kind of thing. I also enjoyed it when Rosie O’Donnell would throw out little koosh balls and other silly things to audience members that correctly answered her trivia questions.

Rosie is also the impetus for my idea about surprising celebrity guests with their own favorite celebrities. It used to crack me up how giddy and excited Rosie would get at the mention of Tom Cruise’s name (even though I personally can’t stand the man) but I think it’s neat that even celebrities like Rosie can get excited about another celebrity that they may not have met.

I just came up with another, kind of silly (but fun for me) idea. You could have occasional theme shows where each celebrity guest has the same first name. For example on one show you could have Rosie O’Donnell, Rosanne Barr (who is often called Rosie) and Rosie Perez. I think that would be a hoot. Or on another show you could have Matthew Broderick, Matthew McConaughey, and Matthew Modine. Or you could have one extra special show where you have guests that only go by one name like Cher, Sting and Prince.

Or you could have an occasional segment in which Kevin Bacon is the main guest and then you have to play that game Six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon. So you would have to find guests who had some connection, no matter how small, to Kevin.

@kardamom
I went to his site but I don’t see “Past Shows” or something similar. So the clip I’m referring to would be the one with a woman with a hat on made of oranges. The question was something todo with oranges and the ticket was to Florida? I ‘m not sure. Anyway, he is a docor and he is supposeed to just inform us about medical related things.That is all. Not act as a salesman for the airline or travel agency etc.. He or (anyone else) shouldn’t be a salesman for the or anything. It is fraudulent activity. Colbert was doing somesketch with Doritos and Cheerios making it look like a sketch. Soooooo insulting!! And on The View the hosts actually do the promos. Degrading.

@Kardamom
@kardamom
I went to his site but I don’t see “Past Shows” or something similar. So the clip I’m referring to would be the one with a woman with a hat on made of oranges. The question was something todo with oranges and the ticket was to Florida? I ‘m not sure. Anyway, he is a docor and he is supposeed to just inform us about medical related things.That is all. Not act as a salesman for the airline or travel agency etc.. He or (anyone else) shouldn’t be a salesman for the or anything. It is fraudulent activity. Colbert was doing somesketch with Doritos and Cheerios making it look like a sketch. Soooooo insulting!! And on The View the hosts actually do the promos. Degrading.

@flo That does seem a little weird for a show that is supposed to be about giving medical advice. If it was on Oprah or Ellen, I think it would be fine.

I don’t have any issues with hosts (like the ones from the view) doing promos for products as long as they are products that they actually like and use.

I know most radio hosts do promos for the products that are their sponsors on the radio station as part of their contracts. Seems ok to me, unless the host had some reason not to want to endorse a particular product for ethical reasons.

@Kardamom
It is wrong for the hosts to lie to the public, no matter how lowly people look upon the Ellen The View radio hosts, etc. And they are not asking the hosts if they have a problem with the products I ‘m sure. And that shouldn’t mean anything anyway. That is like if my employer asks me if I mind if he insults me? Even if I say “no” it is still wrong. It is unethical for the employer to make lying part of the contract. The reason people look upon America as the land of the free is supposed to be because of equality, no slavery. Hosts should just do their opinion thing. And the employer should hire people to just do the ads/ promos, the way it used to be.
The public does not know that Dr. Oz (and whoever else is doing it) is not bribed behind the scenes to give the product a higher profile than the other brand. Conflict of interest. So it is very bad.