Lunch at Michael's with Fran Drescher

Fran Drescher star of The WB39s Living with Fran Friday 830 ETPT says she is willing to work more closely with advertisers to increase the value they receive from advertising in her show quotTelevision is in a transitional period Advertisers need to develop commercials that cannot be ignored even when they are fast forwarded and they need new ways of getting their message across I remember watching reruns of My Three Sonsquot she points out quotand Fred McMurray would sit around the table with his TV sons and they would do the Kellogg39s commercials Sometimes you need to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience But networks are so scared of being retroquotI admit I had no idea what to expect when I met Fran for Lunch at Michael39s last week Of course I knew her personal story of successfully battling uterine cancer of being the inspiration creator and star of hit series The Nanny of marrying her high school sweetheart coproducing The Nanny with him and then divorcing him in 1999 after 19 years and I knew about her four year affair with a man sixteen years her junior Her affair with a quotboy goyquot is the subject matter for Living with Fran heading toward its final six episodes with renewal still uncertainAfter watching this week39s episode and after an engaging lunch at Michael39s where we chatted with Katie Couric Fran39s former employer Les Moonves of CBS Gil Schwartz of CBS Matt Blank of Showtime and Barry Diller who was lunching with Peter Brown I39ve committed to putting the resources of MediaVillagecom behind an effort to convince WB program president David Janollari to renew the series for another season It39s as good if not better than any other broadcast network sitcom this season with the biggest star attraction on any sitcom todayFran admits she is struggling to generate more publicity and recognition for Living with Fran quotBeing on a network without sports is a problem It39s tough to promote to new audiences The WB has no sports no late night talk show and no national morning show Their hearts are in the right place and they39re very supportive I39m the link between what the network presently is and what it is becoming But did I need to be a pioneer at this stage of my careerquot she asks quotProbably notquotquotI don39t want to seem negativequot she adds quotThe show is excellent and getting better We have an audience that39s valuable for advertisers There is a huge gay audience and we appeal to a broader demographic than the network itselfquotI39d watched Fran39s live appearance on The Martha Stewart Show immediately before our lunch an interview Stewart producers say was the best since Martha39s return to daytime television Fran was engaging funny honest and surprisingly domestic Her comfort in Martha39s kitchen they baked a dark chocolate crepe cake made it obvious she knew her way around an oven Over lunch Fran told me she hopes to open a restaurant in New York with a casual tapas theme quotA small place she says with a great bar scene catering to the gay communityquot quotI39m a divaquot she says quotthe gay community loves mequotFran would also like to have a new guy in her life to personally cook for quotI worshipped my boyfriendquot she confided quotIt ended three years ago but it was hard for me to get past it For a while I was comparing other men to himquot Now Fran realizes how difficult it was for a significantly younger man to deal with her success quotIt never mattered to me how successful he was but I can see from his side he needed to feel good about himself People would ask him 39Are you somebody39 The dude needs to feel like the dudequotNow Fran says she39s open to men of all ages quotI39m looking for a connection and a sparkquot she told me as leaves dropped from the plant overhead directly into her salad evoking her trademark laugh quotI need someone intelligent enough to challenge my intellectquot She admits to having been a very bright student quotMy school in Flushing New York wanted to skip me but my sister Nadine was in the class ahead and my Mom didn39t think it was a good idea to put us togetherquot She went to Queens College within walking distance to her home but dropped out when they wouldn39t let her take acting classes until junior yearFran is passionate about supporting and expanding arts education in public schools in addition to her commitment to her personal charity Cancer Schmancer also the name of her bestselling 2002 book and her work with The Creative Coalition which educates organizes and mobilizes the arts and entertainment communities on political issues Fran plans to spend more time in New York City to be closer to her mom and dad From the Martha interview I39d learned that Fran39s mom had been released that day from the hospital heart fibrillation and in fact Fran was 20minutes late after stopping to see her Mom dropping off the chocolate crepe cake and sneaking a small piece Fans will be happy to know her mom is feeling much betterFran and her many fans will also be feeling much better when The WB acknowledges that Living with Fran has the potential to emerge as one of television39s best and most popular sitcoms MediaVillage urges The WB to renew the series for another season support it promotional provide a solid leadin and continue to make the investment in high caliber guest stars Debi Mazar has become a recurring guest and talentamp160

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Lunch at Michael's with Fran Drescher

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