The Talk's Julie Chen: Leslie Moonves Is Only Annoying When He Wakes Up The Baby

When the hosts of the forthcoming CBS daytime talk show The Talk were asked what they find most irritating about their spouses, Julie Chen, who is married to CBS CEO Leslie Moonves, played it like only someone who's uncharitably nicknamed The Chenbot would.

First, she explained, she only married Moonves because he was "the first person in my life who doesn't annoy me." (Aw, poor Harry Smith.) Then she consulted with Talk co-host Leah Remini before sharing that Moonves' most irritating habit is that he wakes up their 10-month-old child when she specifically asks him not to.

Ah, well played. Fortunately, though, producers realize that if The Talk is going to make noise the way the The View and its "hot topics" do, its hosts — Chen, Remini, former Roseanne star Sara Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, and Marissa Jaret Winokur — are going to have to be less diplomatic.

In an extended clip of The Talk that CBS screened for critics during the Television Critics Association's fall TV previews, the women discussed the Ted Haggard, Skyped with Bret Michaels about rumors that he would join the American Idol judges panel, and berated the parents of a group of young girls who perform a suggestive routine to Beyonce's Single Ladies while wearing bikinis.

So while Gilbert, who also serves as an executive producer of The Talk, conceived it as a roundtable for moms to sound off, it appears anything will go.

"This is not a show just for moms," Chen said. If the show were on today, she continued, the women would be discussing everything from Mel Gibson to the controversial Arizona state law. "It should kind of feel like Barbershop... [Cedric The Entertainer] would say the most controversial things and that's what this should feel like: six women talking about what everyone is buzzing about."

Asked if they're prepared to have their opinions perhaps define who they are — à la the testy face-offs between The View's Rosie O'Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck — Osbourne said, "The thing is, I'm not running for mayor, so I don't care."

"Every one of us feels righteous in what they think, but you can argue," Remini added. "And, usually, you argue those points with your mom or your best friend."