Julie Chen on Her New Show The Talk and the Panelist She'll Spar with Most

Julie Chen, the Big Brother and Early Show emcee, is taking on a strange new venture in the form of Sara Gilbert's View-like morning chatfest called The Talk. Alongside Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Marissa Jaret Winokur, and Leah Remini, Chen will bandy news topics, offer pithy opinions, and potentially channel the candor of Cedric the Entertainer. I spoke to her after The Talk's TCA panel in Beverly Hills and got her to admit the panelist she's most likely to have an Elisabeth Hasselbeck-worthy fight with on air.

Chen, the mother of a 10-month-old son, says that the subject she'd potentially object to the most is the parenting advice of one of her costars.

"I think [I would have conflict with] Marissa," she admitted. "Her son is, I believe, two years old. I could see myself [eventually] doing the same things she's doing and saying, 'Oh man, maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to judge her.' But yeah, some of the things she has said about how she chooses to raise her son, I'm like, "Really?"

Fortunately, Chen embraces those differences of opinion.

"The thing I'm most excited about is the women I'm doing it with because I think each person has something very interesting to say about everything going on in the world, not just how they raise their kids," she said. "That's what makes this show like none other. And I feel as if we are all going to be very honest with how we feel about things going on in the world or going on in our own home. When you watch the first 15, 20 minutes of Regis and Kelly or The View, I always find those first 20 minutes are the best part of the show. It's not about what guests they book or whoever is coming on later on. It's when you hear these people talk about their lives. I think we all have interesting lives and perspectives on things."

More than anything, though, Chen is excited to upend a reputation that even she describes as a bit aloof and serious.

"I think most people think of me as this Chen-bot [with] no personality. Up until now in all my jobs, I've not been allowed to say how I feel about things because it's not proper to. People will just think, 'She has no personality or no point of view,' or they'll see what they want to see, which is, 'Julie wore black today because she doesn't agree with the war. She's mourning all the soldiers.' Now you'll see how I really feel about everything from A-Z, and that's refreshing for me."

[Photo Credit: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images]