At this point Fashion Police is like The View, it’s a revolving door of panelists, on a show which thrives on controversy, using a format which seems slightly outdated. Since Joan Rivers passed in September, 2014, the show has failed to find its footing. Instead of receiving a much needed reboot it kind of struggled along, with Kathy Griffin joining earlier this year and quitting after seven episodes, saying that it felt like “a dog pile” and was too mean, essentially. Kelly Osbourne quit shortly before Kathy did, citing the big controversy over Giuliana Rancic mocking Zendaya’s dreadlocks, although I don’t think people cared much that Kelly was leaving.
Following Kathy’s departure, the show went on hiatus for a few months. It returned this fall, with Joan’s daughter, Melissa Rivers, on the panel along with Brad Goreski, who’s been on since earlier this year, and Giuliana Rancic, who has been on FP since it started in 2010. They’ve tried out other guest panelists including comedian Margaret Cho, and it turns out that Cho has been selected to join the show on a more permanent basis. Cho will be on starting January 11, when they critique the Golden Globes.
Margaret Cho is joining E!’s “Fashion Police” as when the show returns in 2016. Before her permanent “special co-host” gig, Cho had appeared as a celebrity guest on the fashion gab-fest…
With Cho on board, the “Fashion Police” panel is complete with the return of Giuliana Rancic, Brad Goreski and Melissa Rivers. Each episode, the foursome will be joined by a celebrity guest, as had been implemented in the latter half of this year, following Griffin and Osbourne’s departures.
After the talent shuffle had passed, Rancic spoke to Variety about the show’s evolution since Rivers’ passing. “Melissa is a natural fit and did an incredible job of moderating the show and also bringing the funny,” Rancic said. “You can instantly see she’s her mother’s daughter. I am so impressed by Melissa’s performance and am confident Joan is smiling down on her and so proud of how terrific she is as the new co-host.”
Though the longtime “E! News” anchor is no longer at the helm of the nightly entertainment news show, Rancic continues to host E! “Live From the Red Carpet” award show specials, in addition to working on “Fashion Police.” For the Golden Globes on Jan. 10, she will co-host with Ryan Seacrest. As for “E! News,” Rancic’s former co-anchor Terrence Jenkins just announced this week that he would be leaving the show, effective immediately.
Aside from their on-camera hosting duties, Rivers is an exec producer on “Fashion Police” and Rancic is a consulting producer.
Cho is heading into a busy 2016, as Amazon just announced this week the development of an hourlong pot-centric dramedy centering around the comedian, titled “Highland.”
“Fashion Police” returns with Golden Globes coverage on Jan. 11, the day after the award show.
I guess they don’t have to worry about Margaret objecting to the jokes being too rude or whatever, she’s been rather controversial in some of her jokes and performances. She even joked about the Zendaya controversy during her appearance on Fashion Police in September. Margaret won’t try to switch things at all and that’s what they want.
Just like Kelly Osbourne however, I’ve seen some of the crap Margaret wears and I question whether she’s qualified to comment on other people’s fashion in any capacity.
I’m…slightly disappointed by this. I’m a long-time Margaret Cho fan and she’s always been a big proponent of feminism and women, etc. Fashion Police is a show that exists to snark on (mostly) women’s fashion choices. And while I get that there’s a way to criticize clothing in a constructive, helpful way, FP often would wind up being just nasty. If Margaret is on it, I hope she elevates the show, rather than dragging it down. But I don’t have high hopes.
I still watch Fashion Police and, while I rarely agree with the panel’s critique of fashion, I think Margaret Cho’s commentary is kind of hilarious. It’s true she has the fashion taste of a goat (no disrespect to goats) but she’s mean AND funny in the kind of way where you think, “my G-d, did she really just say that?”
I’m glad Melissa Rivers has come out from behind the camera because I like Melissa.
I also love Cho but hate her fashion sense.
I have contempt for Kelly O. and her taste, but this must bother her because she did have a lot of knowledge about the ins and outs of the fashion world.
This show might be watchable again for the award season.
Cho is not only very funny but capable of being quite kind. She probably is the best they can do, although the show might be long overdue for being put out to pasture. As for her personal fashion sense – hey, she’s a comedian! What she’s wearing in the pics above is much better than most of the stuff we see on the red carpet nowadays. Two words: Kim Kardashian…
Would anyone notice if this show went off the air?
I’m not sure why E! clings to this show so tightly? Why not just give it a nice send off and call it a day? Who still watches this crap? There must be some good reason they are still trying to “make fetch happen” I just can’t figure it out?
I’m starting to think that E! is struggling for content. They’ve ridden the Reality train hard for the past decade, but the subjects they choose for their shows feel like they’re either doing somebody a favor or their development team has truly awful taste. Look at the people they’ve given shows to: the “rich kids of Beverly Hills”; the tanning salon people; the Carter family; the odious Jonathan Cheban; Clint Eastwood’s wife; the Lohans – who on earth would want to actually watch any of these shows?
The ONLY time I ever watched the show was during awards season. Like their specials after the golden globes or oscars.
I used to love it, mainly because I adore the baby boomer humor that Joan Rivers did so beautifully as an octogenarian. That was a classic time in comedic and fashion critique history that shall never be replicable. I like Margaret Cho immensely, but I liked Kathy Griffin whose timing wasn’t quite right. I believe the whole show should have had a year hiatus and then reformed. Joan obviously carried the show, but enough with the comparisons. I live in a retirement home for snarky aged shop girls, so I pretty much live for FP and there will always be a place for style critique.
this show needs to roll over quietly and die.
I feel the same. I like Cho though.
I love Margaret Cho as a comedian and an actress. I have currently binging on “Drop Dead Diva” on Netflix while I work for a year in China. Yeah, there might be good shows on TV here but my Mandarin sucks, so it’s Netflix all the way! Love Margaret Cho 🙂
Once upon a time she was funny. That time has passed. She is hardly a fashionista and is hardly in a position to critique others. Said it before, Fashion Police died with Joan….maybe even about a year before that. Just as an afterthought it drives me bonkers when Rancic rips someone a new butthole and then says…sorry…..or at the end of the day…….RIP
She’s great on there because she’s a joke teller, which is something Kathy was not.
They need to just stop it already. They are holding on to the idea of this show being able to recapture what it was like grim death. Enough. Put it to rest. The show died with Joan’s passing, and it will never be what it was and any other version just wont cut it.
I don’t think it’s nice to call her slim pickings before she’s even given a chance.. However, I do think that anyone who takes that position should know something about fashion. You don’t want another Kathy Griffin in there who knew nothing and just shot off her mouth. So we’ll just have to wait and see. Maybe Margaret knows more about fashion than one might think.
I guess Fashion Police is is comedy show rather than a fashion show.
I’ve never seen it but I’ve read nothing good about it. Margaret Cho is amazing. Hopefully she will elevate it.
Fashion Police really is horribly outdated. I think they need to go away for a while and think of a new format. I like some fashion snark ocassionally, but now I watch it and it’s all so predictable and lame. I know who will think of what of each dress. I can even guess what their jokes will be.
I like Cho a lot but this show doesn’t need new faces, it needs to go away.
I may be in the minority, but I used to be a Margaret Cho fan, always rooting for her success, but I am a fan no longer. All it took was her and Amanda Palmer’s simulated gang rape onstage of a Katy Perry lookalike. I was actually more disappointed in Amanda as far as that went. I guess I understand what they were trying to get across, calling Katy out for appropriation and ending it with a No H8 message. Politically I agree, but the performance itself was so disturbing and triggering for me that now when I see Cho my heart starts racing and I feel like crying. Fortunately I never was a Fashion Police viewer, so the casting doesn’t ruin anything for me. I wish I could still like her.
As much as I love Margaret Cho, which is a lot, I don’t know if I’d listen/take any fashion advice from her 🙁 I hate to say that because I love her! She’s entertaining, fearless, funny, strong willed and a hard core femme, but I question her fashion.
End well, this won’t.
It would take someone with really bad taste to elevate this panel.
I love Maragaret Cho, though I haven’t seen everything she’s done. Throw in John Waters and I’d watch the show every time.
omg anonny,
You are a genius. The addition of John Waters WOULD actually get me to watch that hot carl of a show. Someone needs to give him some kind of TV deal, he would pull amazing guests.
Fashion criticism from Cho would be a complement. I’d worry about anything she liked.
I get they want comedians (because “controversary” gets people to view your videos), but it would be more refreshing to choose someone who also has style and actually knows the industry/designers/fabrics etc well.
This show is so weird. A circle full of hags talking shit about people that are better looking than them. It’s like old women stuck in Jr. High.
She is so funny. I was watching this after the others departed. I thought she was excellent and fit exactly what they wanted to do. Then they added NeNe and i turned it off.