The Bottom Line
As most of us are, I’m at a slight disadvantage in preparing a true review of The Wendy Williams Show, as it is currently only seen in four TV markets: Los Angeles, New York, Detroit and Dallas. But if Alessandra Stanley’s review in The New York Times is an indication, the show is an acquired taste Stanley calls Williams’ “a real-life scandalmonger, the kind of beauty-salon savant who wishes famous people the worst.”
Pros
- Irrepressible
- Irresponsible
- Unavailable to most of the U.S.
- Chat show? Brat show
Cons
- Irrepressible
- Irresponsible
- Unavailable to most of the U.S.
- Chat show? Brat show
Description
- Wendy Williams’ career as a talk show host began on the radio as a deejay.
- Williams is known for mixing it up with her guests, and is probably best known for her tiff with Whitney Houston.
- Airing in four cities – Los Angeles, New York, Detroit and Dallas – the show could go national in the fall.
Guide Review - The Wendy Williams Show
I have to admit I haven’t seen The Wendy Williams Show. As it only airs in four cities – and Cleveland is not one of them – the show remains a mystery to me.
I am familiar with Wendy Williams, the acerbic – and occasionally hilarious – radio DJ, who sported a kind of talk show, The Wendy Williams Experience on VH1. That show followed Williams radio program, taping segments as she welcomed guests and chatted into a mic.
That show was fine – a kind of Howard Stern meets Tyra Banks. And I can't imagine her daytime talk show on FOX is much different. The New York Times’ Alessandra Stanley calls Williams “the kind of beauty-salon savant who wishes famous people the worst,” and says her show is “is less a talk show than an alpha-female showcase, and Ms. Williams is careful to place herself on an equal footing with even her most famous guests.”
In fact, not long after its debut, Williams traded barbs and Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, the Apprentice reality star, turning what seemed like a standard guest-host chat fest into a guest-host brat fest.
It’s unclear whether The Wendy Williams Show will become a nationally syndicated program – but with fights like the one described above, she seems to be trying to get any kind of press she can.
For more discerning tastes, this is a steer clear. But if you like to drive slow past highway crashes, this one might be for you. Which is the reason why the pros and cons of this review are identical. For some, that's the thing that will keep them away. For others, it's just what they're looking for.
