Their newly minted talk show only premiered on April 30, but Bianca Solterbeck and Peter Verge are already bantering like they’ve been co-hosting for years.
And they have – just not in a talk show format.
Solterbeck and Verge spent three seasons fine-tuning their rapport on Dream Homes, where they shone the spotlight on some of the most unusual abodes on the West Coast.
Now, they’re mostly staying put in Shaw TV’s Coal Harbour studio and transmitting a traditional talk show – the Vancouver-centric That Talk Show – into homes across the Lower Mainland.
They’ve got chemistry. They’ve got camera presence. They’ve got experience. But do Verge and Solterbeck have what it takes to host a weekly, 30-minute gabfest – notably on a channel where a previous two-hander talk show (the long-running Urban Rush) catapulted its hosts – Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford – to local legends status?
Absolutely, and they’re eager to get started, according to the co-hosts, who spoke with Reel People one week before the launch of That Talk Show.
“There’s no lack of content,” says Verge, seated next to his co-host in a green room adjacent to the new set. “There are so many cool things going on.”
That Talk Show showcases Metro Vancouver and its extraordinary citizens.
“We’re celebrating the people who live here, and we’re doing it in a very fun, fast-paced way,” says Solterbeck.
Each episode includes an in-studio chat with a Vancouverite of note, a DIY demo, and a segment called The Try Out that finds Verge auditioning for arts groups and sports teams around the GVRD (including Ballet BC, a North Vancouver lawn bowling team, and the Vancouver Whitecaps).
“I’m not a sports guy, unlike most of the guys I went to broadcasting school with who wanted to be sports reporters, but I’m going around and trying out for local sports teams that I probably shouldn’t be trying out for,” laughs Verge. “You’ll have to watch the show to see how that goes.”
The show also takes Solterbeck back into familiar territory. In the One Room segment, local celebrities like Entertainment Tonight’s Erin Cebula and Love It or List It’s Todd Talbot give Solterbeck a peek into their favourite rooms.
It’s difficult to imagine a talk show on Shaw without casting a thought back to Urban Rush, and Shaw’s latest dynamic duo has received words of wisdom from their predecessors.
“One of the best things we did was sit down with Fiona and ask her what were the toughest situations she was in, and how did she handle it, and she had some great stories,” says Solterbeck.
“[Forbes and Eckford] have this legacy in the city,” says Verge. “Everybody knows who they are and what they did. It’s intimidating to follow in their steps, but because they’re so encouraging, it makes it less daunting and more just really exciting, and we get to make it what we want.”
Verge will get Vancouver laughing, according to Solterbeck.
“He makes me laugh multiple times a day, even if it’s the same joke,” says Solterbeck. “He doesn’t take himself too seriously.”
Verge lobs a compliment back to his co-host. “What’s awesome about Bianca is she’s very, very organized, and gets stuff done, and I’m more all over the place,” says Verge. “She likes to take charge, and without that, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
Viewers will likely learn more about the off-screen lives of That Talk Show’s co-hosts as the show progresses.
“This will be very different for us, because on Dream Homes, we were the deliverers of information, but on That Talk Show, we’ll have an opening chat, and this will be a chance for us to talk about our lives,” says Solterbeck.
Solterbeck calls downtown Vancouver home, and Verge commutes from Coquitlam, where he lives with his wife and toddler.
But don’t expect Verge – unlike many talk show hosts on American networks – to regale viewers with TMI-laden tales about his family. “My wife says her worst nightmare is my job, so I don’t think she’ll be on TV,” says Verge.
• That Talk Show airs Thursdays at 6:30pm and 10:30pm on Shaw TV.
