Oxygen Puts Its Faith in the ‘Little People’

In a magnificent spirit of underachievement, a new special has arrived at Oxygen cable network with moderate aspirations, a shoestring budget and a valid question as its title.

“Who Needs Hollywood?” is a homage to the creative talents of ordinary people who couldn’t give a hoot if they ever get their big break. The 60-minute special comes to Oxygen as network television continues its promotional parade of lavish “reality shows” that promise fame to the surviving participants.

In contrast, “Who Needs Hollywood?” is a televised road trip for hostess and co-creator Katie Puckrik, choreographer Marvin Thornton and their three crew members. They arrive in a small American town, Julian, Calif., spend one day generating buzz about their talent show and hold auditions. For the next day and a half, they conduct rehearsals. And finally, on the third night, they stage a production for friends and family.

“We wanted to tap into the unpretentious creativity of people,” Puckrik said, explaining that the show is edited for a fun, rather than a cruel, effect. “The more eccentric, the better, whether it’s moose-calling or chain-sawing chairs. There’s no jaded cynicism.”

Along the way, Puckrik and Thornton picked their way through a minefield of assumptions many of the small-town folk have about the film crew from L.A. who arrived in a rented van.

“We’d call people, and they’d say, ‘My husband’s out raking leaves. Can he call you tomorrow?’ People were deeply unimpressed with us,” Puckrik said, obviously pleased.

The show was modeled on “Waiting for Guffman,” the 1997 mock-documentary by Christopher Guest that followed a local song-and-dance pageant in a small Missouri town.

When Puckrik and co-creator Todd Yasui pitched the show to Oxygen executives in New York last December, they began by asking who had seen the movie. Laughter erupted and, after a few minutes, they were given the go-ahead and a too-small-to-mention budget that restricted their mode of travel to automotive or hitchhiking.

“Katie’s great, and I wanted to see her out and about, talking to real people,” said Debby Beece, Oxygen’s president of programming. (Puckrik spent 16 years in the United Kingdom and has hosted variety shows on British TV and Oxygen as well as several BBC radio series). Beece described “Who Needs Hollywood?” as the “opposite” of the typical unscripted series. “It’s sweet and real and glorifies the low-key, little people,” she said.

Back in L.A., Yasui got in his car and drove north and Puckrik got her in car and drove south. Every few hours they would check in with each other on cell phones to see if they had found the right place.

“[I’m on the phone saying] ‘I’m in Weed Patch, and I don’t think it’s good because no one’s milling about,”’ Yasui recalled.

But Puckrik found a perfect amount of pedestrian activity in Julian, a mountain town two hours east of L.A. known for its homemade apple pies. Puckrik needed accessible townspeople for what can only be described as a guerrilla television tactic in which she runs up and asks them to audition for a variety show.

For some, it was disorienting to hear “news” of a theater production from an out-of-towner who still hadn’t found a place to sleep for the night. For others, it was a welcome opportunity for nightlife. Still others were uninterested, but they humored her by promising to show up.

The magic of tonight’s program out of Julian lay in editing the abundance of “no way” reactions and subtler eye rolls and yawns that speak volumes about the culture clash.

Thornton, a former dance instructor for Madonna, brings just enough glitz and flamboyance to make local firefighters feel self-conscious at first. He’s also got enough spirit to rile up the older “floozies” in the town to prance unself-consciously.

“Performance is about communicating your own personal joy,” Thornton said.

Speaking of “personal joy,” Puckrik noted recently over lunch with Thornton and the rest of the crew, the next hourlong installment of “Who Needs Hollywood?” will be shown in January and will focus on a small Alaskan town where the men outnumber the women seven to one. By the time that special airs, Oxygen executives anticipate they will have penetrated several additional markets and will be accessible to 4 million more viewers.

Since its launch in February 2000, Oxygen has attempted to penetrate every major metropolitan market. Though it is available in cities such as L.A., New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Nashville, St. Louis, Louisville, Dallas, San Antonio, Fort Worth and Austin, it remains unrated by Nielsen Media Research.

Oxygen executives say they hope the thrifty show catches on, reinforcing their brand as a network with a well-intentioned programming schedule geared toward female viewers. But Yasui thinks “Who Needs Hollywood?” will appeal to men and women as an underground, optimistic twist on the usual fare.

“People love underdogs,” he said. “We’ve got 48 hours to mount a show for the town. Are you game?”

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“Who Needs Hollywood?” airs tonight at 8 on Oxygen.