Melissa Rivers goes from producing ‘Fashion Police’ to co-hosting it

Melissa Rivers seems to be adopting the mantra of “if you can’t get something done right, do it yourself.” How else do you explain the announcement that is coming out today?

E! has announced that “Fashion Police” will be returning later this summer, with Melissa Rivers adding to her executive producer credit by now serving as a co-host. The show’s future was called into question after the death of her mother Joan, and while there was a brief stint of the show featuring Kathy Griffin, she and fellow co-host Kelly Osbourne each departed after expressing dissatisfaction with the show. There was also the controversy regarding comments that co-host Giuliana Rancic made about Zendaya.

Here is what Melissa had to say in a brief statement:

“I’m very excited to be given the opportunity to continue to work with my E! and Fashion Police family.”

Both Rancic and Brad Goreski are set to return for the next batch of episodes. There is no word on if anyone else will join them.

Is this combination really going to make for compelling TV? We’re not entirely sure that it will, if for no other reason than that Melissa Rivers doesn’t have the same exact bite to her as her mother, even if she is a strong content producer. Ultimately, the biggest problem with the entire conceit of the show is that before the social media age, it was easy to make quick comments on a TV show that were somewhat mean about an outfit, since everyone just moved on and you heard a ton of compliments in-person. Now, everyone can tweet you, the episode lingers on DVR, and we’ve become a much more sensitive culture to negative remarks.

Do you think there is any hope at all for “Fashion Police” to work? Share below, and head over here if you want to get some other TV news on all we cover, courtesy of our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: E!.)