Is Fran Drescher Bankable as a Talk Show Host?

Fran Drescher: the flashy girl from Flushing, the Cancer, Schmancer authoress, and now, the host of your new favorite daytime talk show? The erstwhile Nanny star signed a three-week contract with Fox to front her own chatfest, beginning on Nov. 26. But is Fran Fine a palatable successor to Oprah?

It's notable that the deal Drescher signed is comparable to Fox's previous deal with Craig Kilborn, who was given a trial-run talk show in the summer. And how did The Kilborn File go, exactly? Or did it go? Frankly, I heard so little about Kilborn's post-Late Late Show comeback that it may as well have been a six-minute trial. I remember something about Kilborn having a cohost in the form of Step by Step star Christine Lakin, but that may have been a dream.

In other words, it's going to take a major bump of PR to make this show work, but Drescher has a few tricks up her sleeve: She's an extremely competent panelist, having spent the past decade on CNN-type shows promoting early detection of cancers (she was misdiagnosed by eight doctors before undergoing an operation for uterine cancer in 2000) and establishing herself as an authority on the subject; she's got comic timing; she's unafraid to speak to the people. And she has enough of a history in show business to book decent guests and score some sublime interviews. You might begin to like Jay Leno if he appears and talks with Fran about old times on the set of American Hot Wax. Right? Maybe.

At any rate, I have more faith in Fran as a talk show host than as a pop star. Have a listen to the song she released last year, the songlessly dreary "Eye for an Eye."

· Fran Drescher to Launch Her Own Talk Show: Is She the New, More Nasal Oprah? [Vulture]