Word: vanzant
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...gospel revival but a midtown-Manhattan talk-show taping. But it would not be surprising if Iyanla Vanzant were uttering a silent prayer as she warms up the crowd before recording the third-ever episode of Iyanla. At 47, she has risen from a traumatic early life--poverty, rape, a teenage pregnancy, a stretch on welfare, beatings by the relatives who raised her and later by her husband. She left her abusive spouse, put herself through college, became a lawyer, then a self-help/spiritual guru, motivational speaker, best-selling author and perennial Oprah visitor. Now, with her own syndicated...
...catch: Vanzant wants to do a show about ordinary people with ordinary problems that don't involve having their in-laws' babies. She's not alone. On Sept. 10, MTV VJ and former BET host Ananda Lewis wants to bring back Phil Donahue-style social issues on her own syndicated talk show. (Both shows will air in most U.S. markets.) But Iyanla (ee-yon-la) and Ananda (an-on-da; wait till David Letterman gets them in the same room) face the common belief that only one mononym can get away with nonsensationalistic talk...
...There's Oprah [Winfrey], and there's everybody else," says Bill Geddie, who along with TV veteran Barbara Walters is the executive producer of Vanzant's show. "Oprah does the interesting, reasonable people that could be you or me. And everybody else does screaming people." Says Walters, who persuaded Vanzant to try a talk show after seeing her on Oprah and inviting her on The View: "How many times have I seen, 'It's not my baby!' 'Yes it is!'?" But Jerry Springer et al. are thriving, while nearly everyone who has promised an alternative approach to sailor-mouthed moms...