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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Andy Grossman

Aired August 04, 2002 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: "The Anna Nicole Show" makes its premiere run tonight. She's the latest on a growing list of reality- based TV shows, from "Survivor" now to "The Osbournes."

But in reality, do people really care? Well, let's pose that question to Andy Grossman of the "The Hollywood Reporter," who joins us now from New York. Andy, good morning to you.

ANDY GROSSMAN, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: Good morning.

SMITH: The show debuts tonight at 10:00. What's the premise for this story, for this show?

GROSSMAN: The premise for the story, for the show is really the same as "The Osbournes." In fact, they're doing this show because "The Osbournes" were so successful. It's just following around Anna Nicole Smith as she lives her life -- as she goes bowling, as she does everything. In fact, in one of the most embarrassing segments on the show, they kind of follow her into the bathroom, and you can get the idea.

So it's no holds barred, and we'll see if viewers like it or not.

SMITH: Well, one can argue that "The Osbournes" have been a success because you actually have -- you know, there are four people. I mean, there are the parents and then the two kids. But Anna Nicole, it's just Anna Nicole, right, for every show?

GROSSMAN: No, well, it's her, it's her 16-year-old son, it's her personal assistant, who has a tattoo of Anna Nicole Smith, by the way, pasted on her body.

SMITH: Oh, OK.

GROSSMAN: And her attorney and best friend, whose name is Howard K. Stern -- no, not that Howard Stern. So actually, it's the four of them. It's very interesting. The son didn't really want to be on the show. He's doing it because, well, face it, it's a career move for her. She really has no career, so this is what she's trying to do to kind of get back into the picture.

SMITH: We know about her past, but about what she's doing currently -- does this show have lasting power, in your opinion? GROSSMAN: I think there will be a curiosity factor. It's been hyped. There has been a lot of publicity about it in the media. I think it might have curiosity factor. Whether it has lasting power really depends on how interesting she is.

E! says it's putting this show on because they did an "E! True Hollywood Story" on her, which is their version of "Biography" and "Behind the Music." And according to them, every time they reran the Anna Nicole Smith story, it doubled or tripled the normal ratings, so they wanted to do something with her. Once "The Osbournes" became super-successful, they said, hey, wait a minute, let's do "The Osbournes" with Anna Nicole Smith and see what happens.

It's not an expensive form of programming. It's, you know, cable networks a lot of times tend to stock things against the wall and see what happens. They figure, well, you know, maybe it will work.

SMITH: Yeah, and this is the genre of the times. I mean, just like when ABC hit with "Millionaire," here come all the spin-offs. Those that work stayed; those that didn't disappeared very quickly, and reality TV shows right now, that is the in thing -- that is very cheap to do. Liza Minnelli also has one coming out. Your thoughts on that? She's been a big topic lately with her marriage and all the jokes on late night.

GROSSMAN: Well, same thing. Liza Minnelli, same thing. She's now famous because of her wedding and her marriage, so this is even a stranger show, in which she's going to have a series of dinner parties, starting in October on VH-1 each week. And you're going to see Liza and her husband, David Guest, as they prepare for the dinner parties, as they go to the stores, they kind of do their life, preparing for the parties, and then they will have famous people over -- famous singers, you know, celebrities, over, and you will hear everything from the preparations to the dinner party itself.

Why VH-1's audience would be interested in Liza Minnelli is kind of beyond me -- but again, nobody thought "The Osbournes" would be successful. Nobody thought that people would care about the day-to- day life of a 50-something heavy metal star. Turned out, it was very interesting. It turned out the mundane of his life was the most interesting part of it, that -- and the reason people liked that show is because here's a guy who's just like you and I. He doesn't understand how the remote control works. Well, neither do I. And he's got a functional family, but it's also a very colorful family, and everyone enjoys kind of laughing at him.

SMITH: And we'll see if -- unfortunately, Andy, I'm sorry, we're out of time. We'll see how his show does in the second season; we'll see if Anna Nicole can keep an audience and how Liza's dinner parties go as well. Andy Grossman of "Hollywood Reporter," thanks so much.

GROSSMAN: Thank you.

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