David Duchovny Fans :: Just David :: OT

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The New York Times
October 6, 2002
A Sly Assault Launched From Inside Oxygen's Tent
By ANITA GATES

LIZZ WINSTEAD has a gift for ridicule. She was a co-creator and the
head writer of Comedy Central's nightly newscast, "The Daily Show,"
when it began six years ago and started treating pop culture with the
absurdity it deserved. As in the correspondent Brian Unger's report
on the shocking anti-Latino bias that had kept the cartoon character
Speedy Gonzalez in the shadows.

Ms. Winstead was also the woman that Craig Kilborn, the show's host
at the time, made lovely comments about in a 1997 Esquire interview —
suggesting that she would perform a particular sex act on him if
asked — which led to his suspension and her departure from the show.

Now she's back, with Mr. Unger, in a new show called "O2Be," as in,
Oh, to be richer, smarter, thinner, more beautiful, more everything —
to be any other creature on this earth but me. The show spoofs
daytime television aimed at women, with regular features
like "Inanimate Portrait" (Téa Leoni's secret struggle with
postpartum weight gain after ballooning up to a size 6), advice from
Dr. Phred ("He hates because he loves") and tips for the busy modern
woman on making time for her daytime drinking. And here's the strange
part: the show is on Oxygen, a cable channel aimed at women.

This is the same Oxygen that limped onto the scene in 2000, unable to
crack the cable lineups in New York and parts of Los Angeles. The
channel that went into comedy with misguided shows like "Pajama
Party" (women discussing serious issues while in sleepwear)
and "Running With Scissors" (an all-woman sketch comedy show that was
finally deemed too awful to put on the air). How did a hip series
like "O2Be" end up on a channel like this?

According to a story circulating within the television industry in
Southern California, it almost didn't. Oxygen, the story goes, said
no to the uncomfortably close-to-home series earlier this year but
changed its mind when the pilot episode was somehow put on the air.

"No, that's not really true," said Jennifer Cotter, vice president
for development of Oxygen Media, which is based in New York. "We
didn't really turn it down." The channel and the show's creators, Ms.
Winstead and Mr. Unger, just went through the usual back and forth,
Ms. Cotter said ("What if we did it this way? What if we did it that
way?"), and eventually Oxygen agreed to their way of doing
things. "Parody really is their expertise," she said.

Neal Kendall, a co-executive producer of the show, said that Oxygen
just waited until "the final days of the option" to make a definite
decision.

However it happened, "O2Be" is here, on Sunday nights at 7:30, with
six episodes ordered (the third arrives tonight). And at its best,
it's hysterical. It shows what happens when talented people are
allowed to take their expertise and run with it. Ms. Winstead and Mr.
Unger are the stars, playing Lizz Winstead and Brian Unger, the hosts
of a daytime talk show who love to chat about which parties and
screenings they were invited to the night before and the difficulties
involved in adding a poolhouse. There's a lot of Kathie Lee Gifford
in Ms. Winstead's character, and plenty of Kelly Ripa, too.

The "O2Be" Lizz won her job on the show as part of her second divorce
settlement. "She thinks that because she's on TV, her life is
interesting," Ms. Winstead said.

The two hosts don't really hate each other or suffer from unresolved
sexual tension — that would have been "the obvious way to go," Ms.
Winstead said. Instead, said Mr. Unger, "we find comfort in each
other, that we're both famous and rich and people want to be us."

Both hosts have namesake magazines. Brian magazine offers helpful
articles like "Sexual Harrassment: 15 Alibis That Work." The current
issue of Lizz features "They're Called `The Help,' So Why Don't
They?" and "Tune Out: How to Smile Without Listening."

Some of the segments could just as easily have turned up on "The
Daily Show." The tour of that chic international resort Hayward,
Wis., is one, and it feels like the beginning of a long-running
feature.

The show's riskiest comedy decision so far, in terms of the sort of
topical humor "The Daily Show" purveys, has been to joke about Sept.
11. But, as Mr. Unger pointed out, the jokes are about "the
trivialization of 9/11." Like Brian magazine's tribute to
firefighters, which consists of a photo of Brian in firemen's pants
being adored by scantily clad models.

Ms. Cotter of Oxygen has high hopes for the series. Comedy was always
meant to be "part of the Oxygen brand" — "as soon as possible, as
much as possible," she said. Unfortunately, "it was not present in
the actual programming."

And Oxygen doesn't mind that it's part of the women's media that the
show is skewering. "That was sort of what we liked about it," Ms.
Cotter said.

The creators and stars are just glad that, after the back and forth,
they were allowed to do things their way. "Lizz and I were pretty
adamant," Mr. Unger said. "We wanted to keep it very forward-
thinking, very irreverent."

If "O2Be" becomes a breakout success for Oxygen, the two stars are
sure to be invited on a bevy of talk shows, including, say, "Live
With Regis and Kelly." What happens then?

Mr. Unger said he could ask Regis Philbin about the appropriate time
for viewers to stop wearing their American-flag lapel pins. Or he and
Ms. Winstead could go on as their characters and interview their
hosts. Or he might be less courageous, he concluded. "I think I would
just apologize profusely."

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