THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607260074
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko, staff writer
From Hollywood
LENGTH: 94 lines
NOW HERE'S an odd couple for you: MTV's game-show babe Jenny McCarthy and the Chicago Bulls' tattooed, cross-dressing, nail-polish-wearing, hair-color-changing, ``bad-as-I-wanna-be'' Dennis Rodman.
Why is this pair together, schmoozing with TV writers from across the country?
The folks at Music Television, where McCarthy co-hosts ``Singled Out,'' brought her on to announce that she will do another series for MTV, and a sitcom she hopes to sell to a broadcast network.
And Rodman? Same deal, almost. He says he wants to host a weekly TV show, and MTV is happy to oblige the man who wears more earrings (six) than Chicago has pro basketball championships (four).
``It's my opportunity to bring a crazy, wild show to television that will surprise people,'' said Rodman, who appeared before the press in a modest wardrobe - T-shirt, baseball cap and jeans.
No feather boas today. But he was wearing nail polish in a shade selected by his daughter.
What kind of show will it be, exactly?
``Real-life stuff.''
Could you elaborate?
``It will be about things. Good things.''
And the title?
``I don't know what the damn show's going to
called. How about `Snake,' because I have a snake?''
(In his ``Late Show'' Top Ten, David Letterman recently suggested the show be called ``Pierce This!'' or ``Mad About Tattoos.'')
No word on when Rodman's show will make it to MTV, which nowadays devotes only 20 percent of its programming to music videos - no date on when he'll be beaming into MTV's 265 million households in 78 countries.
MTV can't wait to get another Jenny McCarthy show under way.
MTV says no other VJ or host of programs such as ``Spring Break'' has been so popular. The MTV president, Judy McGrath, says McCarthy ``quickly connected with our viewers. She's our huge star.''
(McGrath, who started at MTV as a copywriter in 1981, also told the TV press that her company on Aug. 1 will launch M2 as an all-music channel a la MTV in its infancy 15 years ago.)
McCarthy is so hot that one national magazine, Entertainment Weekly, charts her every career move. She's been on the cover of Rolling Stone. In pop culture, you don't get any bigger than that.
Unless it's posing nude for Playboy, which McCarthy has done, too.
There's a brain in that bod, she said. ``I'm not just a pin-up queen. I know I can do more than just be a sex-symbol type. Playboy only showed my outer shell. MTV saw more. They gave me the chance to be this crazy, screw-loose girl on television.''
MTV announced that McCarthy will continue indefinitely on ``Singled Out,'' which is ``The Dating Game'' with hormones run amok. The network bosses expect to announce soon what she'll be doing next for MTV.
What will your new show on MTV be like, Jenny?
``It will be more of the same Jenny that people see on MTV now, except I won't be in a studio with a hundred horny male contestants like on `Singled Out.' Maybe it will be about crashing Hollywood parties. Or maybe it will be a parody of movies.''
What about this sitcom in development with Paramount?
``Maybe it will be like an `I Love Lucy' thing. I'm still thinking about it. My best ideas come when I'm in the shower.''
McGrath gave more details.
``You can say that Jenny's shows for us and the networks will be Tracey Ullmanesque. You can call them free-form variety shows.''
And what is Rodman's show to be like?
``He'll be going shopping and talking to rock bands and doing other stuff,'' said McGrath.
On that sketchy outline, MTV gave Rodman his own TV show. When you're hot, you're hot.
``Great success came to me after I dyed my hair blonde,'' Rodman said. ``At first, people said I was stupid and weird to do it. Now they see me as a great, dedicated basketball player having fun. I won't pick up a basketball again until I do the 20 shows I agreed to do for MTV.''
Rodman, who is free to sign with any National Basketball Association team this year, did not say if he will return to the Bulls. If he does, he said, it will be for no more than one season.
``There's no deal on the table at the moment. . . .''
McCarthy, on the other hand, has a long-term contract with MTV Productions. Who knew she would become so popular that TV shows are being written for her? Plenty of women make it as Playmate of the Year and then fade away.
Not Jenny.
She wants to be more than a Playboy babe.
``It was a difficult stereotype to break when going up for a part in movies or television. Impossible,'' she said. ``The casting directors would look at me, laugh and say no way will she get the part. I thank MTV for hiring me and giving me the chance to show my personality on television.'' ILLUSTRATION: MTV photo
Jenny McCarthy and Dennis Rodman discuss plans for their new shows
on MTV. by CNB