JOAN RIVERS SHOW: A NEW ACT IN TOWN

Joan Rivers looked fairly calm late last week as she ate catered Chinese food off a plastic plate in an office at KTTV in Hollywood.

The familiar razor-blade voice was silent, and the manicured fingers, often seen in mid-jab, were occupied with utensils. In place of the flashy designer originals, she wore a simple black dress, and reading glasses rested low on her nose.

The moment was deceptive.

The former Metromedia Square, now Fox Television Center, was a frenzy of activity in preparation for the Thursday premiere of “The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers,” and the star of the hourlong talk show was at its center.

Carpenters headed toward a stretch of 20-hour days as they completed the make over of Stage 4 to her specifications. The band hastily dined on the same meal as Rivers--cooked by a caterer she personally helped select--then headed off to rehearse, among other tunes, a theme song inspired by a few bars of melody she had sung to band leader Mark Hudson.

Meanwhile, salesmen for the new Fox Broadcasting Co. network and its approximately 100 affiliated TV stations report that commercial ad rates are double and triple the norm, thanks both to Rivers’ presence and the promise of fresh fare.

Rivers wasn’t granting interviews the other day. But a tour of her surroundings and interviews with her supporting cast of on- and off-camera talent gave several hints of what viewers can expect beginning Thursday at 11 p.m. (locally on KTTV, Channel 11):

--More talk, less shtick. “Joan’s a talker. We know that,” said Bill Sammeth, her manager. Sammeth, 35, shares executive producer billing on the show with Rivers’ husband, Edgar Rosenberg, and he said viewers can expect “more guests and more of them.” Translation: Don’t look for a Rivers version of Johnny Carson’s Karnak the Magnificent or David Letterman’s Stupid Pet Tricks. Rivers will more likely be found interviewing the likes of Elton John, Cher, David Lee Roth and Pee-wee Herman--her inaugural guests--following what Sammeth said will be a brief monologue.

--Remotes. The rumor is that Rivers has already been out with a camera crew to the Fairfax district to pose the purposely premature question, “How do you like my show?” That’s presumably for use on Show No. 1. But given the promise for more talk, Sammeth said, segments like this will be only “occasional.”

--Youth and female appeal. The premise behind “The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers” is that there’s room for an alternative in late-night viewing, and her guest roster thus aims for an audience that NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” wouldn’t necessarily attract.

Friday’s planned guests are Whoopi Goldberg, Ted Danson, Air Supply and Joan Lunden; “The Tonight Show” has scheduled Tim Conway and puzzle expert Jerry Slocum. Monday: Rivers will feature Angela Lansbury and Shari Belafonte-Harper opposite a Carson rerun. Tuesday: Diahann Carroll and fiance Vic Damone, comedian Louie Anderson and “Perfect Strangers’ ” Bronson Pinchot opposite Carson guests the Smothers Brothers and piano teacher Marguerite Hanusa.

--Big-band-style rock ‘n’ roll. Hudson, a protege of producer Phil Ramone and formerly one of the comedy-cum-music Hudson Brothers trio, has put together a 16-piece band that may look like Doc Severinsen’s but is closer in spirit to Paul Shaffer’s on “Late Night With David Letterman.” In fact, Hudson said that he will challenge Shaffer to an on-air battle of the bands. But he added that he will apply a more up-to-date musical approach than either of NBC’s late-night bands. “What I want to do is take ‘String of Pearls’ and do it like you’ve never heard it before. But we might also do ‘Sledgehammer,’ ” a recent Top 40 and MTV hit.

The show’s theme, penned by Hudson and Michael Sembello (“Maniac”), gives a rock edge to the bah-ba-ba-ba-baaaaa, bah-ba-ba-ba-baaaaa that Rivers sang to Hudson over the phone (“I think it was singing,” Hudson said). It beat out fully produced entries from Barry Manilow, Paul Williams, Jay Graydon and James Pankow from the band Chicago, among others. Fox Inc. Chairman Barry Diller made the final selection, Hudson said.

These distinctions aside, Sammeth and company do not deny the similarities between the Rivers’ motif and those of the other late-night fixtures.

The Rivers set, in fact, is nearly a duplicate of “The Tonight Show’s” Burbank theater, from the steep rake of the audience seating to the placement of desk, chair, couch and band.

“She felt very comfortable” with “The Tonight Show’s” layout, Sammeth said. “Guests like it, too. It’s almost like you look in an encyclopedia and say, ‘OK, let’s see how the most successful show does it.’ ”

However, Rivers is not merely duplicating her experiences as Carson’s former permanent guest host. She is also bringing to reality an unfulfilled wish list.

The 11 guest-star dressing rooms below Stage 4 have “all of the things she’s wanted when she’s been on a show,” said production designer Gerry Hariton. That means “lots of clean towels, full-length mirrors, makeup tables and lots of bright light.” At Rivers’ request, the multicolored walls and linoleum floors in her neck of KTTV have been redone with carpeting and beige tones.

Too, some of her scheduled guests--such as Kenny Rogers, set to appear Oct. 15--will be sitting down with Rivers for the first time because, on “The Tonight Show,” they were considered good guests “for Johnny,” Sammeth said.

Projections for Rivers’ late-night entry also have it fulfilling the wish for better ratings on the part of Fox Television Stations, the six former Metromedia stations that Fox Inc. purchased earlier this year. Grandiose as FBC’s “fourth network” plans may be, its real intent is to generate fresh, slick programming for the Fox-owned stations here and in New York, Chicago, Washington, Dallas and Houston.

“It gives us more topspin in our stations,” said Derk Zimmerman, president of the Fox-owned station group. In Los Angeles, Zimmerman expects audience levels to nearly triple from the current 2 local rating points earned at KTTV from 11 p.m. to midnight by its news broadcast (which moves to midnight) followed by “Vega$” reruns. (By way of comparison, “The Tonight Show,” as of the last major A. C. Nielsen ratings period, garnered an average 5.8 local rating. Each local rating point represents 1% of the 4.5 million TV households in the Los Angeles market.)

In Washington and New York, where competition is less intense and late-night viewing levels already higher, Zimmerman anticipates that Rivers will hold the typical 7 or 8 local rating points that “MASH” reruns currently earn there and will carry that audience through to midnight.

Even in those cities where ratings could remain static, ad rates are doubling and tripling. “There’s heat beyond the numbers because it’s fresh programming,” Zimmerman said.

The hopes are equally high at many of FBC’s affiliates--and not only those in the big cities.

“We’ve done our research,” said Don Richards, general manager of FBC affiliate KAUT in Oklahoma City. “There was definitely enough appeal in this marketplace simply on Joan Rivers’ name. If the show does as well as the research shows her strength to be here, then we can immediately become the No. 1 non-news alternative.”

“I don’t think it’s any big secret that that particular time period has always been a problem area” for independent stations, said Bill Saltzgiver, general manager of WPGH in Pittsburgh. “We’re constantly looking for new shows.” The Rivers show, he said, “has a tremendous amount of promise.”