Kimmel readies for American Music Awards
LOS ANGELES -- Dick Clark says viewers who tune in to Sunday's American Music Awards telecast will get to hear jokes from host Jimmy Kimmel -- instead of long sequences of bleeps.
Clark, the show's producer, hired the Osbourne family to host the program last year -- with disastrous results.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Clark told The Associated Press on Friday.
The Osbourne's expletive-laden introductions had the ABC network censor working double-time -- perhaps unnecessarily in some cases -- to bleep out the foul words.
Clark says they didn't curse as much as viewers thought, because whole sentences were censored, not just the offensive words.
"We had a very nervous ABC censor who slaughtered the show and left it full of holes making it appear to be a far more lascivious presentation than it was," he said.
This year, Kimmel -- who has his own late-night ABC talk show -- will take the reigns as host of the live telecast.
"I think Jimmy pretty much does his own thing," Clark said. "But we've cautioned him about a couple of little areas."
Clark promised an eclectic array of performers aimed at the broadest possible audience.
Among those taking the stage for the 31st annual awards telecast will be rocker Sheryl Crow, teenybopper Hilary Duff, grunge-pop Pink, rappers OutKast, rock-thrasher Kid Rock, soul songstress Ashanti and country star Toby Keith.
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