In Your Face

with
Bill Liblick

by
Scott Satin


Today's talk show hosts act as nothing more than mediator's between their guests and the live studio audience. Even though it's not hard to guess what their true feelings might be, the majority of hosts try to remain as neutral as possible. To this we say with no reservations whatsoever ­ enough! It's time for a talk show with a host who takes a stance. It's time to let someone represent the way the majority of us feel. It's time to let Bill Liblick get In Your Face.

Take Phil Donahue's common sense, throw in Sally Jesse's intelligence, add a dash of Howard Stern's attitude and in a nutshell, you've got Bill Liblick.

The major difference between Howard Stern and Bill Liblick is simple. Unlike Howard, most people agree with what Bill has to say, one can't help but smile when Bill goes on the attack. Why? Because he says what most of us are thinking, only he says it better than we could ever say it ourselves. Bill is the captain of the "Common Man Team." He is one of us. He can relate to the audience like no one else on the air. Why? Because the audience is where Bill comes from. Just ask Sally or Phil or Montel or Geraldo or Faith or Jane or Ricki or Joan. They'll be happy to tell you who Bill Liblick is. They should. He's the first audience member to become the subject of a booking war. Every daytime talkshow wants Bill sitting in their audience. When the show begins to drag, they head right for Bill's seat and let him take over. The pace of the show quickly changes as the host stands back and smiles. Suddenly, guests are put on the defensive and the live audience is widly applauding in support. Bill takes any topic, no matter how boring or mundane and turns it into something special. This is not just an opinion. He's proven it on national television over two hundred-fifty (250) times!

The man can elicit an emotional response from anybody he gets into a discussion with. Voices are immediately raised. Battle lines are quickly drawn. Bill Liblick could make the Pope feel defensive. At this point, you are probably thinking Bill is nothing more than an exaggeration, a figment in the mind of an overzealous Producer. Want proof? How many talk show audience members do you know that have been invited back to the program as a featured guest on the panel? Ask Sally, It was one of her highest rated shows. Ask Joan. She was on the floor as was her audience. Want more? Read the recent article written on Bill in the Wall Street Journal. Or, check out the major piece done on Mr. Liblick on CBS's 48 Hours. People want to see this man. He elicits an emotional response from viewers and it's totally immaterial what the topic is. He fights for us, not against us. And when he does, it's simply great entertainment.

The show's opening will be a montage of clips showing Bill battling it out in the studio audience of those other talk shows. Homebase for the host will be an easy chair, facing the stage right in the middle of the audience. A perfect spot for Bill. He'll be surrounded by the group he represents. There will also be a second chair next to Bill's. This is where an audience member can sit when he or she wants to question the panel on stage. There will be no running around in the audience with a microphone for our host. The audience will, for obvious reasons, be treated with respect and will sit like everyone else on the show. The layout of the set will give the viewer an "us verses them" type of feeling. This is exactly what we want. If the representatives of the KKK are guests on the program, we won't need to simultaneously book members of a black church to do combat with them. Our audience and Bill will take care of that. They'll take them on and the results will be far more entertaining than what we are currently seeing now. As it should be, it's the audience and Bill who will decide who is right and who is wrong. It will be our audience who hands out it's expert advice. Our guests will be judged as they should be ­ by a jury of their peers.

In Your Face gives the audience something it has never had before. It's own talk show. Today we hear, "did you see the topic on Oprah yesterday?" Tomorrow we will hear, "did you see what Bill Liblick said on his show yesterday?" Those other talk shows are clamoring for bill to sit in their audience for a reason. They want those magic moments on their program that bill brings to the table. In Your Face will have that magic moment for an hour a day, Monday through Friday. "Quiet" is one thing the show will never be. If a guest needs to be told to 'shut up and get a life', Bill is just the man to do it. He has no problem getting his point across, mainly because of a unique talent. The man is basically uninterruptable. More importantly, he makes sense and does so quite intelligently. He's outrageous, he's fun, and about as likeable as one can get. maybe we should just listen to Greg Kinear of the "E" Channel's "Talk Soup" who said on the air recently, "somebody should give this guy his own talk show." No doubt about it. It's time to get, In Your Face.

© Copyright 1998 Scott Satin

 

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