Want More Talk on TV? Try These : 7 New Hosts Want Share of Youth Market

Politicos call it Balkanization. TV executives call it targeting an audience.

Whatever. The result is still war.

Six new contenders join the already crowded field of daytime talk shows this fall, each looking to claim some territory. Problem is, most of them want the same piece: the oh-so-coveted “younger audience.”

Last season, at age 26, Ricki Lake made a serious run for Oprah Winfrey’s long-held ratings crown. At the same time, shows hosted by Suzanne Somers, Marilu Henner and Dennis Prager fell into the ratings abyss.

TV people paid attention. The overriding prerequisite for the talk-show class of 1995 was youth . The entrants: Danny Bonaduce, 36; Gabrielle Carteris, 34; Mark Walberg, 32; Carnie Wilson, 26, and Tempestt Bledsoe, 22.

The exception is “The George and Alana Show,” featuring the ever-tan George Hamilton and former model Alana Stewart. Promoted as a celebrity chat show with romantic tension--the hosts were married for five years and divorced in 1977--it will air at 10 a.m. on KCAL-TV Channel 9.

“In a strange, perverted way, I like the idea that I’ve recycled my divorce and re-collected my alimony,” Hamilton says.

For the others, the next few months could be brutal. Starting Monday, there will be 21 talk shows on the air before 5 p.m. in Southern California, plus “Geraldo” and “Jerry Springer” late at night.

Talk shows are relatively quick to produce, says Lou Dennig, a programming consultant with Blair Television. But they die quickly, too. It will be evident by December which shows aren’t going to last, he predicts.

With every new show trying to break away from the pack, or at least survive the season, each of their press releases contains an obligatory how-we’re-different paragraph. “Danny!” isn’t going to be angry. “Tempestt” is focusing only on relationships. “Gabrielle” is going to feature live remote segments.

Like parasites, talk shows live and die with their hosts. And the hosts know it.

“America meets you, you meet America, and you do a show,” says Walberg, who used to host Lifetime’s game show “Shop Till You Drop.”

“If they like you, you start to grow a relationship,” he says. “If America meets you and says, ‘I don’t want to have coffee with you every day,’ then you go make a new set of friends.”

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Walberg’s spin is to bring a young man’s perspective to the genre. “Mark Walberg” will air at 10 a.m. on KTTV-TV Channel 11.

Veteran producer Darlene Hayes agrees that a host makes or breaks a show, despite Lake’s success with a dozen-plus guests and shouting audience members. Her 15 years of talk-show experience told her to work with Carteris, who plays Andrea on “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

While “Gabrielle” will broadcast from remote locations--including interviewing a woman while she is having liposuction--Hayes says that all talk shows, including hers, recycle the same topics.

“When I see one that’s fresh and original and never been done before, I’ll give up the business,” Hayes says. “You just try to bring something new to the table. The table is there and it’s been set for years. You just try to bring something new.”

“Gabrielle” is sitting in the noon time slot for KTTV, and right across the table, on KCOP-TV Channel 13, is the other young newcomer, “Tempestt.”

At 22, Bledsoe--best known as one of “The Cosby Show” kids--is obviously out to grab the youth audience that Lake harnessed. “Initially that’s what we’re aiming for, because that’s how old my guests will probably be and that’s how old I am,” she says. “But when you do it well, I think it reaches out to everyone.”

It had better, because at noon, much of that younger audience is going to be at school.

“Tempestt” executive producer Dick Clark isn’t worried, though. “If you get an audience of any kind, they will place it more adeptly,” he says.

“Carnie,” which starts today at 2 p.m. on KCBS-TV Channel 2, might fare a little better, especially since her competitors here are the older “Donahue,” “Jenny Jones” and “Marilyn Kagan.” Host Wilson is the daughter of Beach Boy Brian Wilson and a former member of pop trio Wilson Phillips.

She is, perhaps, the opposite of Lake. Wilson has “a worldly sophistication, but it’s coupled with this innocent sweetness,” says executive producer Cathy Chermol.

Capitalizing on his lack of innocence is Bonaduce. The childhood “Partridge Family” actor had some well-publicized drug troubles and scrapes with the law, but now has a top-rated afternoon talk radio show in Chicago. “Danny!” will be on at 1 p.m. on KCOP-TV Channel 13.

As for targeting young people--or any people--Bonaduce says in his self-deprecating manner, “I’m not that talented. . . . I wish I could say that I could do that--if market research said that I should squint with one eye and walk with a limp. But I just do what I do, and fortunately, that’s what they hired me for.”

Industry executives attribute the profusion of daytime talk shows to their cheap cost and to their continuing popularity. Producer Clark says he believes the genre is supplanting not only the time slots but also the social function of soap operas.

“People used to use as their rationale [for watching soaps], ‘I learned something,’ ” he said. “That may or may not be accurate, but then the ‘80s and ‘90s came along and real live people started discussing their problems. And people at home said, ‘Hmm . . . isn’t that interesting?’ ”

And funny, at least to some. E! Entertainment network’s “Talk Soup” has been highlighting talk TV’s low points for three years, and this season, “Nightstand With Dick Dietrick” offers more straightforward comedy.

“Nightstand,” which will air Saturdays at 11 p.m. on KCOP starting Sept. 16, is fully scripted. Actor Tim Stack plays the tactless host, maneuvering through segments on dating, vigilantism or “secret lives” with a studio audience. Between commercials, he does mock guest solicitations such as: “Do you like it when your mother takes a bath with you? If so, give us a call!”

Question is: Will people know it’s a parody?

* “Carnie” premieres at 2 p.m. today on KCBS-TV Channel 2. The other five daytime talkfests begin Monday.

* Two more women take a shot at late night. F4