Actor-activist Fran Drescher could be headed back to TV– as a talk show host.
At least, that’s what Drescher appeared to be hinting at Sunday night in a message she sent via her Twitter feed.
"I’m doin a sumer tlk show btw," TV’s "The Nanny" tweeted a little bit before 9 p.m. Pacific time, along with kvetching about missing her boyfriend/dog and kvelling about an apparently awesome peach cobbler (mmm… cobbler).
Drescher’s tweet comes several months after the Washington Whispers column of US News & World Report (now mostly online) reported that Drescher was "in talks" with both Fox News and MSNBC about launching a talk show focusing on "politics, health care and world affairs."
Because of the late hour, we weren’t able to contact reps for those networks or Drescher to clarify just what her tweet meant.
However, the fact that Drescher noted she was doing a "summer" talk show could indicate her new network is offering her a trial run to see how she likes the talk format (and how the format likes her).
Another possibility: Drescher might be doing a syndicated talk show.
Debmar-Mercury’s sucessful summer test of "Wendy Williams" — prior to that show’s national rollout — has inspired other syndicators to toy with the idea of giving shows eight- or ten-week test runs in key markets to see if there’s enough momentum to sustain a full-time gig.
Drescher was mentioned as a possible syndie talk show candidate nearly a decade ago, back in 2002, when local stations thought "The Oprah Winfrey Show" would be exiting in 2006.
That didn’t happen, but Winfrey has now announced her daytime retirement for 2011. With Rosie O’Donnell now looking to get back into syndication, the world might be ready for another blunt New Yorker with a well-known nasally voice.
