This guy! (Stefanie Keenan/WireImage.com)Even as fans of "One Life to Live" continue to mourn the end of the show, ABC has moved on, and announced a premiere date for its replacement: "The Revolution" will debut on Monday, January 16. When this headline rolled by in my RSS feed today, I was excited: The show will be hosted by Tim Gunn, who I thought could join Nate Berkus in my list of daytime appointment TV shows. However, Tim Gunn is not alone in "his" show.
Following the models established by ABC's other daytime hits, "The View" and "The Chew," "The Revolution" will feature a whole panel of hosts: Along with Gunn (the Barbara Walters of "The Revolution," it seems), the show will feature Ty Pennington of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"; alleged relationship expert Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry; celebrity trainer/Canadian Harley Pasternak; and women's health expert Dr. Jennifer Ashton. (That's ASHton, guys. I know, I misread that as "Jennifer Aniston" at first, too.)
I realize that Gunn is a daytime-TV neophyte, and that ABC might not want to risk leaving him alone at the helm of his new venture. But wow, what a weird mix of co-hosts ABC has saddled him with! I mean, I was interested in "The Chew," too — as I mentioned earlier today, I am a fan of Clinton Kelly's work on "What Not to Wear" — but the random assortment of co-hosts he has to work with turned me off the show about ten minutes into its first episode. My goodwill toward Kelly was completely obviated by my annoyance with Daphne Oz. Do I like Gunn more than I like Kelly? Sure I do; don't we all? But in terms of irritation potential, Ty Pennington equates to about ten Daphne Ozzes. No: a hundred. Okay, okay: a thousand.
What's great about Gunn is his ability to relate to all kinds of people: We see it every season on "Project Runway" in his gentle yet firm affection for each new batch of contestants, some of whom definitely do not make it easy to get along with them. And I'm confident that even when he's talking with Henry about how wives can inspire their husbands to communicate better, or with Ashton about mammograms — both topics in which he would have no experience and probably very little interest — Gunn will never show any strain. But doesn't he deserve better? Why can't Kelly and Gunn ditch all the dead weight on their shows and star in one together? It could air after Nate Berkus's and before Anderson Cooper's. This is a total no-brainer. Must I do everything?
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