Lynn and Shireen are TV hosts in real life. In the show “Daytime Divas,” Vanessa Williams plays one on TV. Ahead of the the show’s Season 1 finale, the actress chatted with Deco about what makes for winning television personalities.
Tichina Arnold (as Mo Evans): “I don’t walk away!”
Vanessa Williams (as Maxine Robinson): “And this is my ‘I fired Mo’ dance.”
Drama alert! There’s plenty of that going on in VH1’s “Daytime Divas.”
Vanessa Williams: “On edge, relevant, timely, funny and dramatic. I think it’s a winning combination.”
Vanessa Williams is the person running the show. She plays Maxine Robinson, the main host of a daytime talk show called “The Lunch Hour.” It ain’t an easy gig.
Vanessa Williams: “She’s constantly dealing with ageism, staying relevant, having to deal with the pressures of a network and having numbers and having shows that are meaningful.”
Vanessa Williams (as Maxine Robinson): “I was not in a medical facility for throat surgery that day. I was in a medical facility for cosmetic surgery.”
Plus, there’s nothing like good old-fashioned competition.
Vanessa Williams: “Her co-hosts, who all want to be the head honcho, and can’t wait until there’s an opportunity where Maxine isn’t there.”
But despite that, Vanessa says, at the end of the day, it’s camaraderie that makes for good television hosts. (She’s really got Shireen and me down to a tee.)
Vanessa Williams: “You really see that, OK, they might disagree, but they do really like each other, and they will act as a family.”
Most of the time, anyway.
Tichina Arnold: “Oh, [expletive]! It was the white girl! It was the white girl! You saw that!”
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