THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 26, 1995 TAG: 9512230070
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LARRY BONKO
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
S HE'S B-A-A-A-CK! Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, who was barely out of her teens when she created a TV show for kids on a UHF station in Portsmouth three decades ago, plunges into the thicket of daytime talk today at 9 a.m. on WAVY.
``The Jim J. & Tammy Faye Show'' launches in 31 markets this week, one of a dozen new syndicated or network talkfests on their way to a TV set near you. This Jim is not Jim Bakker of the old ``Jim and Tammy Show'' - the disgraced televangelist who built the PTL ministry near Charlotte, N.C., and in the process transformed himself and Tammy Faye into big TV stars.
This Jim is Jim Bullock, who once played a 15-watt light bulb named Monroe Ficus on an ABC sitcom, ``Too Close for Comfort,'' in which Ted Knight starred.
He is a wild man.
I never thought I'd see the day when Tammy Faye would come off as the subdued one on camera. But this is that day. Bullock's five-alarm-fire personality darn near blows her off the screen, mascara and all. Will somebody please get this man under control?
Messner said she auditioned with 10 other potential co-hosts before she picked Bullock.
``We're both down-to-earth people from middle America who work together like we've known each other for years. It's like working with family,'' she said.
In fact, these two have no on-air chemistry, judging by the tapes I have previewed. This critic's advice to my old friend Tammy Faye: Lose this guy.
This is a syndicated daytime talk show without a religious look or feel to it. This is not PTL revisited. It has been put out there by Worldvision, the Spelling Entertainment Group and Fox to compete with shows hosted by Sally, Jenny, Jerry and Ricki.
But there will be no lesbian nuns, tattooed biker babes or husbands who like to wear their wives' lingerie. ``The producers know that I will never compromise my Christian testimony,'' Messner said. ``Our show will be a family show that offers laughter and clean family entertainment to replace some of the hurtful television that we've seen lately.
``It bothers me to see people on TV yelling at each other, putting people down. It is sad to see what has happened to the daytime television talk show.''
Messner and Bullock come to WAVY this morning to uplift the spirits. They'll introduce you to people who live full, rich lives while confined to wheelchairs - even posing for Playboy. They'll do marvelous things with tofu and bring on folksy faces such as a grandmother named Lucy who has 110,000 hubcaps in her collection.
For Tammy Faye, this is quite a comeback. She was partners with Bakker in a TV ministry that reached millions of homes. The kids who started in Portsmouth were riding high. They had faucets of gold in their home.
Then PTL fell. Bakker served time. Jim and Tammy Faye split.
``We were dragged through the tabloids,'' she said. Tammy Faye cried a lot. Her mascara ran often.There were months of loneliness and despair. For five years, Tammy Faye never even thought of resuming a career on camera. Then she appeared on ``Leeza,'' where a producer suggested she contact Dan Weaver about starting a talk show.
The Partner Stations Network earlier this year gave Weaver the OK to build a show around Messner. Now it's here, billed as a little mischief and a whole lot of makeup.
Tammy Faye is back, remarried, supported by a large syndicator, competing in an arena where the money is big if your talk show clicks.
``I have emerged from a very deep valley,'' said Tammy Faye. ``In all the years I sang and ministered the message of faith on television, I never knew until now how I would be able to handle going through a living hell. Now I know that the message of faith I had been preaching worked for me, too.''
And her relationship with Bakker?
``Just fine,'' she said. Fine, but distant.
From the little puppet show they did on Channel 27 in Portsmouth - the rock on which Pat Robertson built the Christian Broadcasting Network - the Bakkers moved on to a TV ministry of their own.
``I'll never forget working in those little WYAH studios on the water in Portsmouth,'' said Messner. ``Those were our training days. I believe I learned all I needed to know about doing television there. It was a happy time for us. Our daughter was born there 25 years ago.''
Tammy Sue is twice a mother, Tammy Faye twice a grandmother.
Time flies.
By sending ``The Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show'' into syndication now, Worldvision hopes to get the hour established before the competition gets intense in 1996.
Did you hear that Roseanne is talking about talking on TV in a syndicated show of her own?
Charlie Chase and Lorianne Crook, who were booted off The Nashville Network, have recovered to start the syndicated ``Crook & Chase.''
Maureen O'Boyle, formerly of ``A Current Affair'' and ``Extra,'' has a talk show of her own.
The stand-up comics who starred in ``The Mommies'' on NBC (Caryl Kristensen and Marilyn Kentz) are scheduled to replace ``Mike & Matty'' on ABC next year.
Also coming is ``Scoop with Sam and Dorothy,'' a talk show hosted by actress Rosie O'Donnell, and another ``Regis and Kathie Lee'' wannabe called ``He Said, She Said.''
Comedian Teddy Carpenter, interviewer-game show host and writer Pat Bullard and Marki Costello, granddaughter of the Costello in Abbott and Costello, are starting talk shows.
Leah and Jamie Hanes will export to the United States from Canada a talk show (``J&I'') pitched at women. And two other people you also never heard of before, internist Dr. Donna Willis and author John Bradshaw, also plan to join the 24 syndicated talk show hosts already on the air.
You didn't arrive on WAVY a minute too soon, Tammy Faye. by CNB