When Tanjeen Twinkle first approached TUTV General Manager Paul Gluck about her idea, no one had ever pitched him an all-female talk show before.
“All the live [Temple] TV shows are basically co-ed or male dominated,” said Twinkle, a junior journalism major. “I wondered, ‘Well, why don’t we have a girl one?’”
“We Need to Talk” is an all-female talk show that will cover a wide variety of topics, ranging from lifestyle to dating to mental health and more.
The show will film its pilot episode on Oct. 1, and it will air on Comcast channel 50, Verizon channel 45 and templetv.net. Twinkle and junior journalism major Jenna Song are the show’s executive producers and hosts.
Inspired by daytime talk shows with all-female panels like ABC’s “The View” and BET Her’s “The Real,” “We Need to Talk” aspires to be a fun, upbeat show providing a platform for young women to discuss issues that affect them.
“I love ‘The Real,’ but they’re all women that are married, engaged or in their 30s,” Twinkle said. “Nothing is there for teens or young adults, so it would be nice to have a show for young adults going through the same things we are at this age.”
Twinkle and Song have toyed with the idea of starting the talk show since freshman year, but they were worried about the logistics and time commitment.
The idea became a reality after a meeting with Gluck and Edward Dress, TUTV’s content producer.
“We loved it,” Gluck said. “It sounded interesting, upbeat and energetic. We knew before the meeting was over that we wanted to film a pilot right away.”
The show then needed a title. Song and Twinkle sifted through about 20 potential names before selecting “We Need to Talk.” Twinkle credits a conversation with a childhood friend for inspiring the show’s name.
“We didn’t talk the whole summer, so … she called me up one day and she was like, ‘Girl, we need to talk,’” Twinkle said. “She talked about work, her boyfriend. The tone was fun and just made me interested.”
While the show’s title sometimes signals the start of a serious conversation, Song and Twinkle plan to give the show a different vibe.
“When you hear someone say, ‘Girl, we need to talk,’ you really want to know what’s going on,” Twinkle said. “We want the tone to make you curious and [show] that what you want to talk about is important and fun.”
The show will have a panel of female hosts with varied life experiences who aren’t afraid to get personal.
“A lot of these shows talk about some content girls would be shy to talk about, and I want all honesty and openness,” Twinkle said. “It’s the 21st century. We should be comfortable enough to talk about these things.”
For the show’s pilot, media studies and production students from Gluck’s TUTV Practicum course will help with set construction, mechanical work and other logistics. Moving forward, Song and Twinkle need to assemble their own team.
In the meantime, Song and Twinkle are writing the show’s script and coordinating its social media. Jeff Adams, a senior media studies and production major, will produce the show’s opening song. Song and Twinkle are still seeking two more hosts to join.
The two hosts said they hope to be a part of a revolution to amplify the voices of women in media and on a larger scale.
“When you hear about five women coming together and debating, you normally think about it in a negative connotation, and I want to turn it into something positive,” Twinkle said. “With the times that we’re in now, our generation isn’t being heard and I want our voices to be out there more.”
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