Ryan Seacrest is everywhere. Or at least it seems that way.
Over the past year, Seacrest has hosted the insanely popular “American Idol,” hawked AT&T text messaging in television ads and hosted a raft of TV specials, from the Billboard Music Awards to a Fox New Year’s special. He’s even subbed for CNN’s Larry King.
Now he’s taking his career a step further, launching his own entertainment talk show, “On-Air With Ryan Seacrest,” which premiered Monday. On Sunday, he replaced the legendary Casey Kasem on his radio countdown show, “American Top 40.”
Seacrest “runs a serious risk of being overexposed,” says David Bloomberg, editor of www.foxesonidol.com, an “American Idol” fan and news site.
Seacrest acknowledges his saturated presence but doesn’t apologize for it.
“You have to look at the broadcast world differently,” he said. “In broadcast, it’s conventional to be on five days a week. … I feel good about it. I’m achieving a degree of ubiquity.”
The ambitious 29-year-old makes an ideal host: He conveys a pleasant, non-offensive persona that doesn’t overshadow the stars. In many ways, he’s a pretty boy, a more finely coifed Carson Daly. But Seacrest wants to be a business mogul, too, much like his idol, 71-year-old Dick Clark.
“I’ve had a game plan for a long time,” Seacrest said. “I want to do what Dick Clark did: build businesses out of what we do.”
Though he’s just a self-described “traffic cop” on “Idol,” Seacrest executive produces and owns a part of “On-Air.”
Seacrest doesn’t call “On-Air” a talk show. “I consider it more infotainment variety,” he said. That means a blend of “Access Hollywood,” “The Tonight Show” and MTV’s “Total Request Live.” He plans to start every show with the biggest entertainment story of the day and then pepper in musical performances, celebrity interviews and behind-the-scene segments. His schedule this week includes Ben Stiller, Missy Elliott, John Mayer and Enrique Iglesias.
Tune in
The nationally syndicated “On-Air with Ryan Seacrest” airs in Chicago at 6 p.m. Monday through Friday on UPN.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale (cdipasquale@tribune.com) and Kris Karnopp (kkarnopp@tribune.com)
