411 Movie Interview: Danielle 'Topanga' Fishel

Posted by Al Norton on 01.17.2009

411's Al Norton sits down for an exclusive interview with Danielle Fishel, host of Style's The Dish.



Danielle Fishel may be best known for playing Topanga Lawrence on the ABC hit comedy Boy Meets World but last year she introduced the world to her flair for pop culture commentary when she began hosting The Dish, a sister show of E!'s The Soup that runs every Saturday night on the Style Network.

Al Norton: So salary aside, do you have the best job in America?

Danielle Fishel: I do, absolutely. I've been saying that ever since I got the job. I've been saying that I don't know how I got to be so lucky. I love, love, love what I do.

Al Norton: How did Style approach you for the show?

Danielle Fishel: People at the Style Network had heard that I wanted to get into some hosting-type stuff so they called and wanted to send up a general meeting. In that general meeting they were asking me what my favorite shows were and the one thing I kept repeating was what a huge fan of The Soup I was. I've been a fan for many years; my family watches it together every week and we're all pretty much obsessed with it. I kept mentioning that and I kept thinking, "I don't know why I am saying that, it's not like they're going to make The Soup Part II that I could host." But I just felt the need to keep repeating it and how much I thought that job would be perfect for me, or something along those lines.

Then I ended up getting the phone call from the Style Network saying they wanted to audition for what they were calling, "The Soup for girls." I got really excited…I talked to my manager about it and said, "If I don't end up booking this job I may just retire." I went in and auditioned against a bunch of other girls they brought in and was very fortunate that they ended up thinking I was the right person for the job.

Al Norton: Was it strange to be standing in the same spots, doing a lot of the same things

Danielle Fishel: It wasn't strange, it was just very exciting. After my audition and after they approached me with the offer to do the show, I went and met KP Anderson and Edward Boyd (the producers of The Soup and The Dish), and Edward ended up asking me, "why was your audition so good?" and I said I owe all of that to Joel (McHale). I knew what they wanted because I have such a good sense of what the Soup is and what they were looking for in a host on a similar show. I've told that to Joel a million times, that I feel like I owe him my job (laughing).
Al Norton: As a guy I will take some issue with calling The Dish, "The Soup for girls". I watch every week and calling it that is almost a disservice.

Danielle Fishel: Thank you! I appreciate that. The funny thing about that is I believe The Soup's primary following is women, so I don't really know why they think that because we're talking about more fashion oriented stuff than The Soup does, it has to be just for girls. I think women have a much better sense of humor than maybe we are given credit for and I'm very proud to be part of the movement to change that perception in people's minds. I appreciate your compliment very much.

Al Norton: How is an episode put together?

Danielle Fishel: We all have certain shows that we are forced to watch…We all have shows that we watch religiously anyway and then we each have a couple we are assigned to. It's the whole writing and production staff and myself, and we all basically just watch our shows and try to find the best moments, the things that made us laugh out loud. The week starts on Monday and we get together and have clip meetings, showing each other our picks and pitching the jokes we have. Once that creative ball gets rolling we have a general sense of where the show is going to go and we continue that process through Wednesday, and by Wednesday night the writers have written the entire script and it gets sent over to me.

Thursday morning we get together and I do the voiceovers - the "coming up next" bits you hear - at about 11 in the morning. From noon to 3 we sit in a meeting where we read through the script the way it is, play the clips, and then punch up what needs to be funnier. We get notes from Style executives and rehash the script that way, too. There's a re-written script from 3 until 5, we do a teleprompter read, we do dinner together, than hair and make up, and then we start the show.

Al Norton: You mention doing the voiceovers so I have to ask about my favorite one; how many takes did you have to do to get the "I read" one down just right?

Danielle Fishel: You know what, I think that was a total of 3 times. They told me they wanted me to do something on the cover of a magazine, and I think it was Edward Boyd who said, "why don't you just say I read." I immediately loved it because I actually grew up in the San Fernando Valley and a very good sense of what I wanted the line to sound like. I think we nailed it right away.

Al Norton: It makes me laugh every week.

Danielle Fishel: (Laughing) That's my Mom's favorite part.

Al Norton: How much more TV do you watch now than a week before you got the job?

Danielle Fishel: A little bit more. To be honest, I'm in school full time so my TV watching time is rather limited. I'm either studying or reading the scripts or doing things pertaining to the rest of my job. I do watch more than I ever used to because before I got the job, all I watched were sports, I didn't watch much outside of Laker games and football. I do watch a lot more now…I find myself watching Real Housewives of Atlanta or Project Runway or America's Next Top Model where before I wasn't such a fan.

Al Norton: What are you studying?

Danielle Fishel: I'm getting a degree in psychology. I'm am at CC now …I'm not exactly sure where I'm going to transfer to get my degree but it may be UC Irvine.

Al Norton: Where are you hoping The Dish leads you? Are you getting the degree for yourself or are you looking at it career-wise as well?

Danielle Fishel: It's a little bit of all of those things. As far as the job, right now I am really so very happy with the show itself. I'm loving every minute of it and I'm hoping the show goes on for as long as possible and can eventually be as successful as The Soup is. The Style Network doesn't have quite as big of a following as E! does and we don't have quite the name for ourselves as Joel, Edward, and KP have made with The Soup…Joel is so phenomenal at what he does that it's hard to compare anybody to him. I would love to keep the show going as long as possible and this is the kind of job I could see myself being able to do for years and being perfectly content with, but I am also really interested in hosting in general and look forward to being able to branch off and host other things as well. And then there's always the idea of going back and doing a sitcom, which I would love to do. I love working in TV. I'm not such a huge fan of making movies but I do really love working in television. I just think it's a great medium and love that you get to work with a smaller group of people for an extended period of time, as opposed to a large budget movie where you're working with mass numbers of people on a shortened schedule. Ideally I think I'd love to be able to do a sitcom and continue to do The Dish at the same time.

As far as my degree goes, school was always something I had wanted to do. Education is something that is very important to me but to be honest, school was something I was very, very terrified of after taking seven years off after Boy Meets World ended. I felt like I was too old, and I still get recognized a lot from the show, especially with the younger crowd of late teens, early 20's; they still think it's really cool to scream "Topanga" across the quad. As much as I love what I do - being an entertainer and an actress - I don't find myself loving being the center of attention all the time. I was really terrified that I would go back to school and that's what was going to happen, that people were either going to just stare at me or say things to me about the show. Once I got over that fear I didn't care what anyone else thought, I was getting the degree because it's what I wanted to do, and that made it a lot easier.

If it's something I choose to do in the future I do just think it's a good idea, especially in this industry where you have no control over if someone hires you or not, to have a back up plan. If I get a degree it's going to be with a focus in marriage and family and I can see myself maybe someday starting my own practice and working with children of divorce, something a long those lines.

Al Norton: Do you and Joel and Matt (Iseman, host of Sports Soup) ever get together and talk shop?

Danielle Fishel: Joel and I see each other rather often because we film our shows directly behind one another on Thursday nights. I see Joel every Thursday. We haven't gotten together socially outside of work, probably because I annoy the crap out of him (laughing)…I am like his annoying little sister, following him around and complimenting him all the time (laughing)…They film Sports Soup really early, I think 7 am on Tuesdays, and we film The Soup and The Dish at 7:30 and 8:30 pm, so we don't really ever get to see Matt at work. I am envious of Matt Iseman because he gets to talk about sports and that makes me jealous.

Al Norton: Did The Dish being the first Soup spin-off make it hard for people to realize what you were doing? Ever think they should have called it Style Soup to up the profile?

Danielle Fishel: I feel like we got a little bit of a backlash because people didn't realize that it was supposed to be very similar to The Soup but on a different network. I think a lot of people thought we were a rip-off, and I think we were harshly judged from people saying, "why are they trying to be like The Soup? The Soup is better." Of course The Soup is better, they've been doing it for a lot more years with a host who is much more familiar with this medium. Sometimes I would read the message boards and want to scream, "we're not trying to rip it off. It's the same executive producers!"

What I would really love to do is a walk-on on The Soup. I think that would be really fun and I could annoy Joel even more. That would help up our profile, get people to know about the show.

Al Norton: Have you gotten any negative feedback from anyone you have lampooned on the show?

Danielle Fishel: No, I haven't yet, but I live in Orange County and I'm going to school, so I don't find myself too often in the Hollywood circuit. I would assume if someone were really upset with me that they'd let me know. Or maybe they wouldn't and one day I'll just run into someone and they'll lambaste me then, I don't know (laughing)…I feel like celebrities get a bad rap with their sense of humor. Most celebrities are in on it, they understand what's going on and they were the ones out there wearing that crazy outfit probably so they could have their picture taken and be talked out. I try - the show tries - to not go after anybody just for the sake of going after them. I hate picking on someone just because they woke up in the morning and decided to wear something ugly that day. At the same time, when you do it tongue-in-cheek and you're able to turn the tables and do it to yourself the way Joel, Matt, and myself all do, it makes it funnier. We're all self deprecating and that makes the show better. If someone were really that upset I'd probably tell them to lighten up a bit, and no harm, no foul.

Don't miss The Dish every Saturday night at 10 pm on the Style Network.