Can you handle the truth? Larry Mendte wants to know.

The former CBS3 anchor, dismissed from the station in 2008 for tapping into coanchor Alycia Lane's e-mail, is trying to get back on the air as the host of a proposed TV series titled Coming Clean.

In an eight-minute pitch targeted at TV station managers across the country and recently posted on YouTube, Mendte describes the syndicated project, created with the local production company Banyan.

It is, he says, "a day and date show," one that deals with time-sensitive topics, "with one simple and noble objective: to be an advocate for the truth."

Mendte declined through his lawyer to speak yesterday, referring all questions to Banyan, which did not respond to numerous phone calls. It remains unclear what stage of development Coming Clean has reached or when it is projected to come on the air.

The promised concept: Take the day's headlines, from politics to show business, and cut through the spin and static to reveal what really happened and why.

Apparently Coming Clean would compete with Oprah's couch to be the preferred national forum for celebrities to confess and apologize.

Showing a clip of Eagles QB Michael Vick by way of example, Mendte explains that he would bring on controversial public figures to explain themselves - that is, to come clean.

(See Mendte's video via http://go.philly.com/coming_clean.)

The former anchor promises to provide a sympathetic ear in these interviews.

"After all," he says in the sales pitch, "I know what it's like to come clean. After the FBI raided my house, I stood up in front of the world and came clean about accessing my coanchor's e-mail account."

In June, Mendte, who served six months under house arrest and is still on probation, asked to have the sentence reduced or vacated. That motion is still pending.

Even with Mike Wallace hosting, Coming Clean would have trouble getting on the air. This is an exceedingly tough time to sell syndicated programming.

"To get a show launched, you have to have [commitments from] major stations in major markets, or you won't get the ratings necessary," says Paul Quinn, general manager at WGAL in Lancaster. "There are hardly any time periods available at any station. That's why there are very few new products out there."

"If you're talking about September 2010, it is one of the most difficult markets to launch any syndicated show, given the economics of broadcast right now," says Bill Carroll, director of programming at the Katz TV Group in New York. "Even if you had a major syndicator behind the project, it would be a major uphill battle to get it on the air."

Nancy Glass, who runs a successful local production company with six series currently on basic cable, is more sanguine about Mendte's chances.

"I think it sounds great," she says of the concept. "It's a tough market right now, but if you have a great idea, you can break through, and Larry is one of those people who can break through."

Contact staff writer David Hiltbrand at 215-854-4552 or dhiltbrand@phillynews.com. Read his recent work at http:// go.philly.com/daveondemand.