My Talk Show

"My Talk Show" was reportedly based on "Tea With Michael Raye," a low-budget cable access program produced sporadically in Los Angeles from 1985 until Raye's death in 2010 (approximately 60 episodes of "Tea" were produced).

Producers of "My Talk Show" reportedly approached Raye to take "Tea with Michael Raye" national, before deciding to go with a female host instead, in a slightly retooled version. While the premise remained the same (with its shared roots to "Fernwood Tonight," the dynamic was Americanized. Michael Raye was a British national living in Los Angeles, while the fictional host of "My Talk Show" was an American woman.

"Tea With Michael Raye" began as a sketch comedy show in talk show format, with Los Angeles-based actors and comedians writing and performing their own segments within Michael Raye's talk-show- from-my-own-house premise. Thus, quality of the material ranged from truly awful to occasionally brilliant. Full disclosure: this reviewer was an occasional actor/writer on episodes of "Tea With Michael Raye."

"My Talk Show" didn't work but it wasn't all bad. It was about a low budget, small town television talk show with all the problems you would expect from a small town television talk show with limited talent to choose from for hosts and a limited budget. In fact the budget was so small the hostess had to use her own living room for the set. Should have been funny but wasn't even though it was a decent premise.

Guests included nobodies from the town the example given before being a local dog catcher. But sometimes 'big names' would be on with an excuse given as to why they were happening to be going through this little town. The excuses never really worked though and weren't funny.

The hostess also always fought with her co-host but that didn't quite work either even though it was a good idea. It's not that the people on the show weren't good they were all fine but it just didn't work.

In somewhat the same vein as "Fernwood Tonight," "My Talk Show" was about a low budget, small town television talk show. The spin on this was that the station couldn't afford to have a set, so they had Jennifer Bass (the brilliant Cynthia Stephenson) use her own living room for the show.

The producers purposely made the production values low. Unfortunately, I think too many people really didn't have a clue about how clever this show was. Her 'guest' stars ran the range from her neighbors to the local dog catcher, even sometimes including a 'name' star that happened to be passing through her town. She bickered with her sidekick/cohost, had emergencies when something she was cooking in the next rood started to burn, and problems being taken seriously by the people aroundher. And Cynthia Stephenson played the part in a way only she could have. The syndicated show only ran about one year. Is there anybody out there from TVLand? Can we get this back on the air, please?