Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Interview with Kristen Baldwin
Aired September 03, 2002 - 08:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: With the end of summer comes the beginning of the new television series. Premiere week starts the 23rd of September with the first of 35 new programs. You have to be patient, though. The networks say it will take about two months to roll out the entire fall lineup of the new shows and returning hits.
Kristen Baldwin, "Entertainment Weekly," here this morning for a closer look at what is hot and what is not. Good morning to you.
KRISTEN BALDWIN, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Good morning.
HEMMER: Hey, we have got a lot to get through here. What's the buzz? What's the big one?
BALDWIN: Well, one of the shows that critics like is called "Boomtown" on NBC, and it's a crime drama set in Los Angeles. And what makes it different is that each episode follows a crime from several different perspectives. So you see it, maybe, as the cop's side, as the victim's side, et cetera. It is very well written and well acted.
HEMMER: Some people say it's like the "Pulp Fiction" of television.
BALDWIN: Yes, exactly. A lot of interweaving storylines, and a lot of good acting.
HEMMER: That's on NBC. On CBS, there is a show called "CSI Miami"...
BALDWIN: Right.
HEMMER: Which is a takeoff on the regular "CSI," and the gig is what?
BALDWIN: Well, David Caruso and Kim Delaney star, and like you said, it's a spinoff. It follows the same formula that works for "CSI." They are going to be solving crimes using a lot of nifty forensic gadgets, and they are hoping the Miami setting makes it a little hipper and a little sexier.
HEMMER: Going up against what, "Monday Night Football"?
BALDWIN: Yes.
HEMMER: That's tough, tough, tough in the fall. BALDWIN: It is tough. There is a lot of curiosity about this show, though, so I think it will help it initially, and also football's ratings have been slipping, so it is a little more vulnerable than it has been.
HEMMER: Yes, but John Madden is back. We shall see.
BALDWIN: That is true.
HEMMER: Back on NBC, "Good Morning Miami," a show that we are keenly interested in because it's essentially about a morning news program, right?
BALDWIN: Exactly, but it's about a bad morning news program, so it is different.
HEMMER: Very different.
BALDWIN: It's by the people who created "Will and Grace," and it is about a hot shot young producer who takes a job at a laughably bad morning show because he falls in love with the hair stylist, and so it has got a lot of the same sensibilities as "Will and Grace," and it is right after "Will and Grace," so I think its prospects are pretty good.
HEMMER: Best comedy? ABC, "Bonnie Hunt: Life with Bonnie"? How did you like it?
BALDWIN: Yes. Well, it is a very funny. She plays a harried mother of three, and also a talk show host in Chicago. What makes it great is that the talk show segments of each episode are largely improvised. So they are really fluid and energetic. It's not the same standard sitcom stuff we're used to.
HEMMER: What about duds? Have you seen anything out there that you think there is no chance in the world this thing is going to get through a season?
BALDWIN: Yes. There's a show on Fox called "The Grubbs." It stars on Randy Quaid and Carol Kane.
HEMMER: That's on Fox?
BALDWIN: On Fox, right. They're lovable losers, they're happy to be underachievers, they are very proud to be lazy, and it's just aggressively unfunny. There's not one joke in it that works, and I don't think people are going to like it.
HEMMER: So Fox has a dud, is that what you say?
BALDWIN: Yes.
HEMMER: OK. I just want to be on record on that. What about "Friends"? Is it truly going to be the final season, or are they going to find some way to make this go for yet another one? BALDWIN: You know what, I think hope springs eternal over at NBC that the cast will want to come back, and if it comes down to money, I'm sure NBC will pay them anything that they want.
HEMMER: You really think so?
BALDWIN: Absolutely.
HEMMER: After that protracted struggle of just trying to a million dollars up from 750, and you think they will ante up more?
BALDWIN: I think they will back up the money, but you know, I don't know that it's going to come down to money. The reason the cast wanted to come back this year along with the money is that the show experienced a creative renewal last year, and their own enthusiasm for doing the show was sort of rejuvenated as well. And so, we'll have to see if that happens again this year.
HEMMER: Good to see you, Kristen. Kristen Baldwin.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
