She’s outta prison, now heeere’s Martha

Martha Stewart didn’t have to wait long for the topic to come up.

Minutes into a Thursday news conference where she offered details about her two new fall television shows, a reporter inquired: Was she wearing her electronic monitoring anklet?

The domestic doyenne smiled demurely as she daintily hitched up a leg of her fitted chocolate brown pants suit.

“Well, I have a microphone on one ankle,” she said, displaying a heavy microphone pack strapped onto one leg. She then pulled up her other pant leg, revealing a heavy black bracelet. “And my other anklet is on the other ankle. So I’m well balanced today.”

She grinned as the room erupted in laughter.

Nearly half a year after her release from a West Virginia prison where she served five months for lying to regulators about a stock sale, Stewart still hasn’t rid herself of the last reminders of her incarceration. Her five months of house arrest were recently extended an extra three weeks, until Aug. 31, after she apparently violated the terms of her confinement by attending a yoga class and off-roading on her Bedford, N.Y., estate. She still has to contend with another year and a half of probation.

But it was a new, relaxed, jocular Stewart on display during an hourlong session with reporters on the stylish set of her new syndicated daytime show, “Martha,” where she discussed that program and “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart,” which premieres on NBC Sept. 21. The svelte 64-year-old, donned in a trendy turquoise-and-brown ensemble accented with an oversized bead necklace, mockingly complained that executive producer Mark Burnett had put her on a “strict diet.”

The world-renowned hostess showed a willingness to tackle the topic of her prison stay head-on -- and with a dollop of humor. The opening sequence of “Martha,” which debuts nationally Sept. 12, includes a montage of photos of Stewart taken throughout her life, including an image of her standing outside the courthouse after her 2004 trial.

In one of the first episodes, producers plan to fill the audience with people who crocheted their own version of the popular poncho Stewart wore on the night she got out of prison. And in a taped segment that features Stewart working at a local hot dog stand, she quips to one surprised customer: “My community service.”

“We’re not going to avoid things,” she promised.

The new programs represent an ambitious public relaunch for both Stewart and her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which struggled during her trial and imprisonment.

“I have been so much looking forward to starting anew this September,” Stewart said.

Company President Susan Lyne called Stewart’s return to television “our coming-out party” and “a chance for us to restart the company and to launch a new phase.”

Reality television wunderkind Burnett, executive producer of both programs, was on hand for the unveiling. He said he believes the shows will help shake her overbearing image.

“I try to find out from people what it is they’re looking for, and the same thing over and over again came to me from people, which is, what’s Martha really like?” he said. “Is Martha hard? And I explained, in getting to know Martha personally, Martha’s always so funny, warm, engaging, very, very witty. I wanted to show that.”

The daytime program -- which Stewart described as “a ‘how-to’ show with entertainment” -- will be taped live in front of a studio audience on a set in Chelsea constructed to replicate Stewart’s own well-appointed kitchen at her country estate. Cream-colored dishes are neatly stacked in shelves next to a large stainless steel refrigerator and state-of-the-art espresso maker. Potted herbs line the window, which offers a view of the Manhattan skyline. Another part of the set features a functioning greenhouse, where Stewart will do gardening segments.

Co-executive producer Rob Dauber said tickets to attend the first week of taping were gobbled up within 10 minutes after being offered on marthastewart.com. The program will stress audience participation, like one early episode that will be attended only by people -- and a few dogs -- named Martha Stewart. Big-name celebrities are expected to drop by with regularity as well.

“Really what I want are guests that are going to show us what they do when they’re not being celebrities,” Stewart said.

When asked if she would invite Cybill Shepherd -- who played her in both an NBC bio last year and an upcoming one on CBS -- Stewart noted that Burnett would be eager to have Shepherd as a guest.

But as for herself? “I don’t know, can she sew?” she asked, chuckling -- but this time more weakly.

Meanwhile, Stewart pledged that her version of “The Apprentice,” which taped earlier this summer, will be very different from the original Donald Trump program. In it, 16 men and women compete for a job at Stewart’s company by performing tasks related to publishing, apparel, entertainment and branding. Stewart’s daughter, Alexis, and Charles Koppelman, chairman of the company’s board, serve as her advisors.

When asked about the tone of the program, Stewart intoned darkly: “Cruel and hard and awful,” then laughed and corrected herself: “Businesslike.”

“I thought it was a good time to show what Martha Stewart Living is all about, the kind of executive that I really am and the kind of work we do,” she added.

Burnett would not reveal if the new “Apprentice” includes Stewart’s own version of the “You’re fired!” catchphrase that Trump made famous, saying only that each episode ends with “something you’ll definitely remember.”

“I don’t even like firing people,” Stewart added, turning to her daughter. “I don’t know if I’ve ever said that. Have I ever said that? I don’t think I’ve ever said, ‘You’re fired.’ ”

Added Alexis Stewart wryly: “You should have.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Martha Stewart: then and now

On the charges against her: “[I will] be exonerated of any ridiculousness.”

--CBS’ “The Early Show,” June 25, 2002

On her release from prison: “The experience of the last five months ... has been life altering and life affirming.”

--after leaving the federal prison in Alderson, W. Va., on March 4

On her electronic monitoring device: “I watched them put it on. You can figure out how to get it off. It’s on the Internet. I looked it up.”

--Vanity Fair, July 2005

On her prison stay: “I don’t think the experience really changed me. I’m sure it had effects on me. If you ask a psychiatrist, they might say, ‘Well, it’ll take a while for it all to come out.’ ”

--news conference Thursday