As a matter of fact, Martha has a message

Martha Stewart is free, and back with a mild vengeance: Two new Stewart shows -- both produced by Mark Burnett, the reality man -- hit the air this month.

Her stint as a distaff Donald Trump in an “Apprentice” spinoff begins next week on NBC, and “Martha,” a syndicated daily talk-and-making-things series distributed by NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution, went on the air Monday. (KNBC-TV Channel 4 carries it here at 3 p.m. as a lead-in to “Ellen.”)

Stewart’s hard time away may have cost her a corporate partner or two, but her fan base regards her only as persecuted, and her current backers trust enough in their continued affection to have built a huge permanent set for “Martha” incorporating a working kitchen, crafts room and greenhouse.

“Martha,” which posits Stewart as a people person, came out of the gate breathing a little hard, but it’s not bad, especially when it lets her do her old stuff: practical demonstration. The worst moments seem to have been born in the thoughts “It would be funny if ...” or “It would be smart if ....” As in, “It would be funny if the crew all wore house-arrest-style ankle bracelets.” (Tuesday was going to be “poncho day”: In honor of the much-commented-upon knitted garment Stewart wore when she left prison, everyone would wear ponchos.) Or “It would be smart if Martha said something about the Gulf Coast disaster and the anniversary of 9/11.” It is odd to see her working so hard to be “fun” and “relatable,” especially since the old, cool Martha was plenty relatable on her own terms.

She built an empire on it, after all.

Where producer Burnett’s conception of “reality” is heavily stunt-based, the hallmarks of Stewart’s previous shows have been their Yankee simplicity, their straightforwardness.

The afternoon market requires a certain cheerleaderishness, but what makes Stewart special is the circle of calm her immense practical capability creates around her. “Martha,” which is shot before a live audience, has been designed to put her up close with hoi polloi, to show the world that she is not cold and superior but warm and accessible.

In what will be a segment called “What’s Really for Dinner,” Martha surprises regular people in their home, helps them cook, hangs out.

Martha is meant to seem like a regular person herself -- though a special sort of regular person -- excited by the presence on her stage of her high-concept first guest, “Desperate Housewives’ ” Marcia Cross, whose domestic-demon TV persona is supposed to reflect Stewart’s. (It doesn’t.) Other guests this week include Jay Leno, Susan Lucci, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Elmo, the little red Muppet.

The best moments in the first day’s show were, not surprisingly, its least staged -- once Stewart and Cross got down to scrambling eggs, they made a good comic couple. (Cross was not a natural cook.)

Matter-of-factness is what Martha-lovers love about Martha: the easy way she has, or at least seems to have, with the tasks and necessities of life, whether it’s folding a shirt or doing time. (She described her last two years as “a little bit trying.”) Her message is that knowing how to do things makes anyone’s life better, and that it’s good to appreciate the “good things” of the physical world -- autumn leaves, vanilla ice cream, whatever.

Whether the “real” Martha is a nice person or not -- a point on which much criticism of her turns -- has nothing to do with the validity of her message, or its usefulness.

There is a lot of noise on the new “Martha,” but the message still gets through.

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‘Martha’

Where: KNBC-TV Channel 4

When: 3-4 p.m. weekdays

Martha Stewart...Host

Executive producers: Mark Burnett, Martha Stewart. Director: Bob McKinnon.