Donny, Marie Hitting The Airwaves Together Again

Near 20 years after their ABC series went belly-up, Donny and Marie Osmond are well on their way to returning to TV together.

The singing and acting duo are moving ahead with plans to host a syndicated daytime talk show set to launch in the fall of 1998. It will be called, what else, “Donny & Marie.” Columbia TriStar TV Distribution, the company behind the show, has sold it in five top markets including New York.

The hour-long show will include celebrity interviews, personalities in the news, comedy segments and elements that will take advantage of the Osmonds’ own skills.

Prolific producer and former “American Bandstand” host Dick Clark will be the executive producer.

“This show is unlike anything else on television right now,” Barry Thurston, president of CTTD said in making the announcement. “Donny and Marie are a proven team whose chemistry, warmth and showmanship are unparalleled not simply in America, but around the world.”

While Columbia TriStar is targeting the fall of next year for a launch, there is a possibility the show could go on the air as soon as next summer. Indeed, since the successful launch of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” last summer, syndicators have found a benefit to starting early and avoiding the program glut that occurs in September.