Stage Is Set for Stewart to Make TV Comeback on NBC Next Fall

Back in September, Martha Stewart told a federal judge she wanted to promptly begin her five-month federal prison sentence so she could be out in time “to plant the new spring garden and to truly get things growing again.”

On Wednesday, some of the biggest names in television said they were betting the convicted felon still had a green thumb: General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. announced plans to roll out next fall an hourlong daytime TV show hosted by Stewart and produced by the king of “reality” TV, Mark Burnett.

“America is all about giving someone a second chance,” said Burnett, who has visited Stewart at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia. “Martha is totally the American dream for a lot of women.”

Only two years ago, Stewart’s vast retail and publishing empire seemed in danger of crumbling amid allegations that she obstructed a federal probe into whether she and others had used insider information to unload shares in drug company ImClone Systems Inc.

The stock of her own company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, plunged. Viacom Inc. stations dropped her syndicated show, “Martha Stewart Living.” Along the way, her reputation in tatters, Stewart stepped down as chairwoman and chief executive.

But the pendulum began to swing in Stewart’s direction this fall when she said the only way to resume her life was to be done with prison, ending the kind of uncertainty Wall Street abhors. Today, her company’s stock has rebounded, along with the employment possibilities for federal inmate No. 55170-054. Stewart still is appealing her obstruction-of-justice conviction.

“Going to prison was a career move,” said Stuart Fischoff, a media psychologist at Cal State L.A. “What is it about corporate America -- particularly those in the entertainment industry -- that they have no sense of shame or ethics? They will put anyone on TV so that they can make money.”

Plans for the show were announced at a packed news conference in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s design offices in a converted industrial loft on Manhattan’s far West Side. Gingerbread cookies, shortbread stars and warm cider were served along with a few details about the show’s format.

Susan Lyne, newly named president and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said that unlike Stewart’s previous syndicated show, this one would be taped live before a studio audience. Lyne said it would be “more accessible, more fun, more unpredictable.”

The show would still blend cooking, entertaining and home decorating, Burnett and Lyne said. But, they said, it also would be spiced with celebrity visits and possible audience participation.

“We’re going to stay true to what Martha does best,” Lyne said, “and that’s teaching people.”

During Wednesday’s news conference, Burnett said Stewart had “millions of loyal fans” and that her latest travails had piqued the interest of “millions more who want to know more about Martha.” Many people believe she got a “raw deal,” Burnett said. “America loves comeback stories.”

As part of his arrangement with Martha Stewart Living, Burnett was given the right to buy 2.5 million company shares at $12.59 each. On Wednesday, the company’s shares closed at $24.43, up $1.55, on the New York Stock Exchange.

The British-born producer -- the man behind the hits “Survivor” and “The Apprentice” -- jokingly thanked reporters for heaping attention on Stewart’s legal problems, potentially increasing the size of the audience for the new offering.

The show will be launched next fall, after Stewart is finished with the house arrest portion of her sentence. NBC Universal is expected to air the show on its 14 owned stations five days a week and next month will begin selling the show to other station groups.

“Martha Stewart coming back to television will be one of the biggest stories in television next fall, and the fact that her show will be on NBC is significant,” said Jeff Zucker, president of NBC Universal Television Group.

Zucker would not disclose details of the deal other than to say it includes a provision for Stewart to appear on NBC’s “Today” show twice a month.

Associate Dean Martin Kaplan of the USC Annenberg School for Communication said that although Stewart had a criminal record “most people are ambivalent about her conviction. Even if people see her as a diva/witch, there’s a sense that she became a sacrificial lamb, that she was given an unfair punishment for a white-collar crime.”

But, Kaplan said, “it’s time for her redemption.... It’s a shame that Lizzie Borden couldn’t have had a bestseller.”

James reported from Los Angeles; Jensen from New York.