Is daytime ready for them?

Sharon Osbourne and Ellen DeGeneres think so. Both women have their reasons for taking on the format in separate shows.

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - On the surface, there couldn't be two women who seem less suited to hosting daytime talk shows.

But spicy-tongued rock 'n' roll manager Sharon Osbourne and out-of-the-closet comic Ellen DeGeneres insist that American women who watch daytime TV will want to spend time with them.

In Osbourne's case, there's another issue: Can a woman whose fame springs from an MTV show filled with profanity find success with stay-at-home moms and other daytime viewers?

"My language, you know, does offend people . . . and I'm going out at a time of day where it's not appropriate to do that," Osbourne said to TV critics Sunday. (Her show debuts Sept. 15 on WMOR-Ch. 32.) "Nobody has said to me - and it's no (expletive) here - nobody has said, "You cannot swear.' But from my own heart, I just can't do that at 1 in the afternoon."

For DeGeneres, her talk show is another step toward recovering from the controversy that followed her 1997 decision to reveal her sexual orientation to the world.

"I just want to be the person I was before all of this overshadowed my life," said DeGeneres, declining to answer personal questions, such as the name of her current girlfriend. "People know I'm gay. There's no need . . . there's nothing to talk about. (Unless) they forget for a second and they want to set me up with a nephew or something."

Both women were light on specifics about their formats. DeGeneres did offer a few more details - there probably won't be a house band, for instance - and Osbourne showed clips from a segment she calls "Under the Covers," featuring pajama-clad male celebrities interviewed in bed.

Osbourne already leads a hectic life: Having recently completed cancer treatment, she'll participate in a third Osbournes season in October while son Jack faces life after a stint in drug rehab.

So why take on yet another TV job, especially when she has talked openly of leaving the MTV show?

"It's the idea of squeezing out every moment in my life," she said. "At one time, I thought, if I've got . . . three, five years to live, I don't think I'm going to live them all on air. (But) . . . I'm a showoff . . . and I've always wanted to have my own talk show."

Lynn Conlan, spokeswoman for WMOR in Tampa, said that Osbourne likely will appeal to a younger audience, and the show is probably going to be scheduled in an afternoon block that includes The Jerry Springer Show and Ricki Lake.

"She's a mom, she's a wife . . . (her appeal) does stretch across (age) demographics," said Conlan, who has seen several test episodes.

Many critics expect DeGeneres, known for her spontaneous wit and for hosting live events such as the Emmy awards, to find more success (her show debuts at 10 a.m. Sept. 8 on WTSP-Ch. 10). Certainly, Rosie O'Donnell proved that a charismatic performer could come out of the closet and keep a daytime audience.

But DeGeneres bristled slightly at the comparison. "People keep asking if it's going to be like Rosie O'Donnell . . . and I keep saying it's going to be like Ellen DeGeneres," she said. "But I will say right here and now that I want Justin Timberlake. And it's not a Rosie-Tom Cruise thing. I promise."

Certainly, Osbourne knows how performers' histories can follow them.

"My husband did that dove thing 24 years ago," she said of Ozzy's famous head-biting incident. "He's sold over 100-million records in his career, and all anyone wants to talk about is that (expletive) bird. And it's like, okay, get over it. People do change."

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