Michael Lohan speaks about ex-wife's reality show

"If that's what Dina wants to do, great. I hope it works out for her, and I hope it works out for our kids. And if she does do the show, I hope this time she surrounds herself and our children with the right people.

"But at this time, the priority for both of us should be concentrating on our daughter, Lindsay."

Lindsay Lohan's father Michael, who's seen public opinion turn in his favor in recent weeks, has temperate words for the surprising-- and some are saying shocking-- news that the E! Entertainment network is in talks with his ex-wife Dina to star in a reality show by the name of Mom-ager.

The title is a play on the word "manager"-- not "overgrown teenager," which would also fit--and the series will show her trying to turn her youngest children, Ali, 14, and Cody, 11, into stars." Just like Lindsay.

Just like Lindsay?

The exploitative and comedic potential of the pitch are obvious, since Dina long ago let her role as Lindsay's mother, protector and manager play second fiddle to her status as hanger-on and BFF as she's lived vicariously through her daughter while riding shotgun on her booze- and drug-fueled rocket from the top of show business to rehab. And in recent months, the 44-year-old former dancer has been eager to shift the spotlight over to herself, beyond the fingerbang gossip items and desperation photo spreads. Even after the obvious and cynical ridicule by the producers of Entertainment Tonight when they hired her as "reporter" for exclusives about Lindsay's first rehab stay and ludicrously on the red carpet for her troubled film, Georgia Rule, she's anxious to give it another go in her dream to become "The White Oprah."

Michael Lohan, of course, is the subject of his own reality television series-- one that E!, with its connections to Lindsay's publicists and studio contacts, understandably passed on. On the surface, with his troubled past, tempestuous relations with Lindsay and her "people," and recent stay in prison, Michael Lohan seems better better suited to HBO or VH-1's Celebreality block.

But Michael's life and show are turning out to be something altogether different. His "rebirth" as a Christian in prison and his work as a licensed minister and rehab counsellor at a halfway house in Long Island has produced real results, and his concern for Lindsay and her well-being has been apparent. His reality show, which documents his work, far from Hollywood yet a stone's throw away-- is shaping up into something that goes far beyond the Anna Nicole-Tom Sizemore variety.

And with word that Lindsay was let out of rehab Friday night-- to attend St. Aidan's Episcopal Church--dad's looking better by the day.

Meanwhile, lets hope E! keeps an eye out for the kids' welfare in all this. Remember what happened to Anna Nicole's...