Vanessa Williams on being a Diva
Daytime Divas a good satire of contemporary medium that’s ripe for some deflation
Hey Donald Trump: Vanessa Williams wants to know what’s going down with you and Melania.
“The first thing I’d be asking is how are relations with Donald and Melania? And why is she always slapping his hand away?” says musician, actor and former Miss America Williams ( Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives) in an interview in Toronto.
That’s not Williams personally, of course. It’s what she would ask the American president as her alter ego Maxine Robinson on the fictional talk show “The Lunch Hour.”
Williams plays a Barbara Walterstype figure and creator of a daytime show similar to The View in the new satirical comedy Daytime Divas, airing Mondays at 10 p.m. on Bravo Canada.
Daytime Divas, created by controversial former View host Star Jones and produced by schlockey pop culture channel VH1, is something of a summer surprise. It’s over the top and cheesy, yes, but it’s also good satire of a medium that is ripe for some deflation.
As Lifetime’s UnREAL is to The Bachelor, Daytime Divas is to The View. The scalpel isn’t as fine or on point as UnREAL but, largely because of Williams, it remains good if not groundbreaking entertainment.
“The true diva in this setting is re- ally Star Jones. She wrote it, kind of infusing the character with the personality of a storied journalist like a Barbara Walters, and then there is Star’s sense of elegance and what the show strives for. It’s really an infusion,” says Williams of Maxine.
Jones was famously let go from the talk show in 2006, claiming she was fired by Walters. She did get some payback by penning the “fictional” Satan’s Sisters about her time on The View.
Daytime Divas was based on that book. While there is no overt Star Jones character, with Williams being more of an amalgam, there are nods to other characters. That includes an outspoken conservative Christian who hews closely to the Elisabeth Hasselbeck archetype (played by Fiona Gubelmann) and an outspoken black comedian (Tichina Arnold) who can only be the fictional answer to Whoopi Goldberg.
Williams said she had some reservations when Jones pitched her the script. She wasn’t sure at first about playing yet another domineering woman and this time with “Diva” in the title. Viewers still remember Williams as conceited creative director Wilhelmina Slater in Ugly Betty. And there was A Diva’s Christmas Carol where she played Ebony Scrooge.
“Wilhelmina is such a landmark role and, when Star approached me, I didn’t want to do Wilhelmina light or Wilhelmina does a talk show,” says Williams. “I wanted different storylines.” Maxine is “a strong woman feared by many, yes, but she’s focused on what she needs to do and carry on her legacy. But it’s not one note. She still has a strong sense of humanity. She’s an aging woman trying to stay relevant. And while she is in control of her show she constantly has to compromise with the network and in her personal life.”
Williams, 54, is nothing if not warm and easygoing on this warm Toronto day. She remembers the city well and that includes visits to African Lion Safari as a child in the 1970s. Toronto was her first choice to shoot Divas, but producers made the decision to use Atlanta.
Williams returns to the province to play a concert at the Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort in August.
“There’s really no comparison to Maxine and who I am,” laughs Williams. “I’m all glammed up now. But when I arrived off the plane to Toronto the television people didn’t even recognize me because I didn’t have any lashes on.”
Apart from Trump, Williams says she would love to get Oprah Winfrey as a guest for her fictional show.
“That would be hilarious. I’ve known Oprah for years, but I doubt she would do it. But that would be funny because Maxine would want to battle it out with her in terms of who is more important in terms of legacy. She’s very competitive, you know.”