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Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

Rick Bentley: Fishel finds her niche in reality TV

Danielle Fishel is struggling to get her pants on because the huge heel of her shoe keeps getting caught on the small leg opening.

She needs to slip the ghastly looking parachute pants over the more fashionable jeans she is wearing for a segment of "The Dish" on the new M.C. Hammer reality show.

It's just another Friday on the set of the Style Network program that pokes fun at pop culture -- much like 'The Soup" -- but with more of an emphasis on programs of interest to a female audience.

The other big difference is where 'The Soup" host Joel McHale delivers his cutting remarks with dry humor, Fishel serves up an equally piercing jab with a Cheshire Cat smile.

And she smiles a lot.

"I think it is a combination of the show and the kind of person I am," a fully dressed and smiling Fishel says. "I think in general I am a very happy individual. But this show has added something to my life in ways I would have never imagined."

Considering how the reality, talk and entertainment shows that get skewered on "The Dish" are taking away jobs from actors, Fishel considers herself lucky to have a job.

She's made a few guest appearances in TV shows and has been a special contributor to "The Tyra Banks Show" since her role as Topanga Lawrence on "Boy Meets World" ended in 2000. This is her first full-time job.

Fishel gets great joy out of the show's structure. As the on-air host, she delivers jokes about TV shows, magazines, commercials and fashion. At the same time, she still gets to act. Her show is on at 10 p.m. Saturdays on the Style Network.

Fishel, who was told over the years that if she ever stopped acting that she would be a good newscaster, is comfortable in her role hosting "The Dish." She plows through the comedy material with few mistakes. The entire 30-minute show is taped in just over an hour.

Along the way, she's taken shots at Bruce Willis (who looked like he was wearing a girdle in a magazine photo shoot), Jennifer Aniston, Fergie, Richard Simmons and Victoria Beckham. Fishel delivers each comic blow with a smile that is disarming.

"We try to make our show a little bit lighter. More on the girlie side of things. Sometimes that can be taken as an insult. Women don't only like to talk about hair and makeup. They have multi interests that we try to cover," Fishel says. "At the same time, we want this to be something they look forward to watching. They know it's going to be 30 minutes of fun, light-hearted television." The only sad part of the job for Fishel is how the term celebrity has been stretched to the likes of Heidi and Spencer Pratt or Job and Kate. She just can't understand why so much credence is given to what they have to say.

In Fishel's case, she earned her celebrity through a television series and the guys (i.e. Lance Bass) she dated over the years. Her work on "Boy Meets World" struck such a chord that she still gets called Topanga.

She credits her parents -- plus an interest in education -- with helping her stay out of tabloid headlines.

Rick Bentley is TV and movie critic for The Fresno Bee