Star Jones Returns to Daytime TV

The Former 'View' Co-Host Talks About Her New Show, Her Weight Loss and That O.J. Book

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Aug. 16 -- She's baaack. After her very public departure from 'The View' last year, and the controversy surrounding it, Star Jones returns to the tube on Aug. 20 with 'Star Jones,' a daily Court TV talk show that finds the prosecutor-turned-TV diva delving into hot topics with celebs and "real people" guests.

Jones, whose personal life has been a constant tabloid subject since her lavish wedding to hubby Al Reynolds and the dramatic, 100 pound-plus weight loss that followed, talks to AOL TV's Kimberly Potts about returning to TV, her goals for the new show, the wild young women of Hollywood and keeping her private life more private.

Is the show going to be live?
It's going to be live every day, five days a week, so it will be an exciting time. There's also a little bit of anxiety you have to imagine -- "Now don't lie, Star, there's a lot of anxiety." It's a big responsibility, and I really appreciate that the audience is allowing me back into their homes. It's not something that I'm owed, it's not something that I'm due, it's a privilege that they're giving me. I plan to take it very, very, very seriously.

What kinds of things will you cover on the show?
Well, it's newsmaking issues, current events, the law and how they have converged in the areas of pop culture and entertainment. It can be everything from why the Iraqi parliament and the United States Congress are on vacation while our men and women are still dying in Iraq, to why have we experienced a failure to parent in the United States, and is that why we are seeing the so-called "bad girls" of Hollywood emerge as today's role models for young people? And everything in between. Any person, whether it be a celebrity or a person right in the middle of a newsmaking story, is welcome on this show.

And will the show unfold in front of a studio audience?
It's not going to be in front of a live audience, but we're going to engage the home audience in ways that you're not used to seeing in daytime, with a mixture of text messaging, telephone, e-mails. We're no longer in a place where you can just be in a monologue with the audience; you have to be in a dialogue with them. Audiences don't want to just hear your opinion, they want to express theirs. And this is something that I can respect. In the last year, not being on television every day, I found myself talking back to the TV, and the shows that kept my attention were the ones that engaged me.

That give-and-take could spark some great conversations and debates.
Absolutely. The whole role of this show is three-fold, quite frankly. First, I want you to think about a different perspective. And then I want you to discuss those different perspectives, and then the end result, to think about what was discussed and act on it. There can be entertainment that is entertaining and empowering at the same time, not humiliating to people. That's the one kind of TV I'm not interested in doing, and I don't think a lot of us want to see [those kinds of shows] anymore.

Are there pet topics that you're already planning shows around?
Oh yes, there are hundreds of them. So many I hope to do over the coming months and, hopefully, the coming years. The one that's really been on my mind is the failure to parent in America. Whether our parents have abdicated their roles as parents in an effort to try to be friends with their kids ... I think that's an issue that is really reaching down into every neighborhood and across every culture and every economic group. I'm on a soapbox a little [now], but I'm also concerned because Mattel has recalled more toys. And I want to ask them if all our efforts to outsource and move a lot of the American manufacturing out of this country is worth it, now that we see the products that we're getting back.

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