My Talk Show

Did You Know?

• Cynthia Stevenson's performance earned a B+ review from Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker, who called her 'a resourceful actress who does a subtle, funny job.'
• Colin Mochrie, known for Whose Line Is It Anyway?, made recurring appearances on the show because he was married to cast member Debra McGrath.

Details

The series was set in the fictional town of Derby, Wisconsin, known as "The Hat Capital of the World." It centered on a local talk show called My Talk Show, created by housewife and talk television fan Jennifer Bass, which originally aired on cable access. The program became a hit, leading to syndication. The show was taped in Bass's home, with the garage converted into a studio audience area because the local television station (possibly Milwaukee, as a channel 65 was circled in credits showing newspaper TV listings that also featured channels from Madison, Rockford, and Chicago) could not accommodate production space. A satellite van and cameras were brought in to tape the show. Bass's hosting was often awkward, sometimes requiring audience participation to move things along—for example, she once asked an audience member to disregard the introduction paper he was asked to read and just proceed with welcoming the host. She was joined by best friend and neighbor Angela Davenport as her sidekick; brother-in-law Marty Dissler; Bucky Fergus, the town's multi-tasked city employee; and in-house organist Mrs. Battle, whom Bass referred to as "my old school nurse." Midway through the run, Bass was replaced by rival Anne-Marie Snelling, owner of the Top Hat Dinner Theater, who had previously burst in unexpectedly and had been jealous of Bass's show from the beginning. Anne-Marie was joined by D.A. Young, who replaced Mrs. Battle as house musician, but she faced similar disruptions during tapings.

Production

The series was inspired in part by Fernwood 2 Night, set in the fictional Fernwood, Ohio, and borrowed elements from SCTV, as some cast members were Canadian. The concept of a home doubling as a studio was taken from Tea With Michael Raye, a Los Angeles cable access program that ran from 1985 to 2010. Producers initially approached Raye to bring his program to syndication, but after the deal fell through, they went in a different direction. The show struggled to attract viewers because stations aired it in late-night slots, especially in later hours on network affiliates, leading MCA to end production by December 1990. Michael Patrick King, later creator of CBS's 2 Broke Girls, was among the writers, and Colin Mochrie (Debra McGrath's husband) made recurring appearances in several episodes.