Did Rosie Kill TV Variety Shows Forever?
Sure seems so. I was actually going to give the angry lesbian a chance and watch her new show “Rosie Live.” As I woke up this morning, it seems I missed my chance.  PatriotPartner and I just conferred: we don’t think it was even aired on our local NBC affiliate station, despite the promo ads.
Seems like it was just as well. It appears to be one of those hours of life that would have been lost forever.
Rosie O’Donnell gave NBC a real turkey.
The network’s attempt to revive the primetime variety show failed to draw an audience Wednesday night, tying for the evening’s lowest-rated program.
“There’s a notion that the climate is right for the genre to make a comeback,” emailed one executive at a rival network. “I guess we now know what not to do, thanks to Rosie.”
Critics were not kind. The NY Times described it as “hokey comedy with an enemies list.” TV Guide called it a “ghastly ego trip.” And the LA Times asked, “Rosie, what on earth were you thinking?”
Yikers.
I guess I will just have to look forward to something else on my boob tube besides an angry boob who hates squirrels.
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
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Pingback by GayPatriot » Did Rosie Kill TV Variety Shows Forever? — November 28, 2008 @ 10:40 am - November 28, 2008
I dislike Rosie for many reasons but her embrace of 9/11 Trutherism is probably the main one. I’m glad her show bombed and I hope to never see her on TV or in the movies again. Embarassing for her apologists was her complete indifference to and refusal to donate in the Prrop 8 campaign. That’s brought some interesting sputtering from liberal blogs.
Comment by John — November 28, 2008 @ 10:46 am - November 28, 2008
On ESPN radio in Pittsburgh, the hosts were begging listeners not to tune in.
Comment by rightwingprof — November 28, 2008 @ 11:49 am - November 28, 2008
Im glad she bombed too. But it would be cool to see variety shows make a comeback. I loved reruns of the Carol Burnett Show and others.
On the other hand, Hollywood is different now. I simply don’t think today’s celcebrities have the stature to pull it off. Americans may be fascinated with celebrities, but I dont think we actually like and admire them enough anymore to tune in to a format that centers on personalities.
Comment by American Elephant — November 28, 2008 @ 11:51 am - November 28, 2008
And from the clips, it was every bit as bad as they say.
Comment by American Elephant — November 28, 2008 @ 11:52 am - November 28, 2008
Yep.
If you want to see how it can still be done, try “Later With Jools Holland”. He is the former keyboard player from Squeeze (one of my all time favorite groups), and his show provides a musical format for established musicians, and showcases up and comers, without the stupid judges from American Idol. Leave it to the Brit’s to show how it’s done.
Comment by sonicfrog — November 28, 2008 @ 12:37 pm - November 28, 2008
Ahhhh, Carol Burnett. That show used to make me laugh so hard I would literally be in tears, holding my aching sides. Now that was good TV. Far better than the crap ones sees today which is why I cancelled the cable a few years ago.
Comment by John — November 28, 2008 @ 12:42 pm - November 28, 2008
I witnessed Rosie’s true nature several years ago when she was playing in Grease on Broadway. I was walking past the theater after the show wondering what the huge crowd was waiting for. It turns out they had (most of them anyway) just come out of Grease and were waiting for Rosie to leave the theater. When she finally came out she immediately started screaming at the “f*cking idiots” to get out of her way. When she finally got into her limo she was still screaming for them to move or “her driver would f*cking run them over.” This was no schtick or gimmick she was just peeved that she had to fight her way past the crowd of fans (BTW, who had just paid to see her perform)
She was the rudest, most foul-mouthed, obnoxious jack*ss that I have ever seen in NYC.
While I can imagine that being mobbed by fans can be annoying – she seems to think that she doesn’t owe them anything. Compare her attitude and behaviour to others such as Charles Barkley who was not exactly an angel on the court; but who always made time for his fans.
American Elephant – yes, I too would love to see Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, and Vicki Lawrence again – and I seem to remember Carol Burnett treating her fans with such grace and charm. One time in particular, I remember a fan on her show wanted to give her a street sign that was from “Burnett” Street. She accepted the sign with such grace and made a big joke out of the fact that her fan “stole” the street sign and Carol was now an “accomplice.”
Comment by Charles — November 28, 2008 @ 12:58 pm - November 28, 2008
The last time Rosie was humorous on TV was her “guest appearance” in the “Trapper Keeper” South Park episode.
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/152371/
Comment by SoCalRobert — November 28, 2008 @ 1:17 pm - November 28, 2008
Rosie is proof that you can’t buy class and can’t run off ugly. She’s one of the most despicable beings on this earth.
Comment by Nick — November 28, 2008 @ 3:07 pm - November 28, 2008
If they re-ran the original Carol Burnett Show in a network, prime time slot, it would still clobber the competition.
Miss Burnett’s secret: She always let the others shine. Something little ms. ego could and would never do.
Comment by Julie the Jarhead — November 28, 2008 @ 3:21 pm - November 28, 2008
I think there are a couple things about the “good old days” which made the variety shows a success that are missing today.
One is that many of the “stars” back then were multi-talented. Most of them worked for years in the industry taking any acting/singing/dancing jobs they could find before they finally made the big-time. Surviving that long, and getting noticed by the studio decision makers, took a depth of talent missing from most of today’s “stars”. Heck, thanks to digital sound processing, modern singers don’t even need to now how to sing, just look good and make lewd dance moves.
Another difference I think is that there were fewer outlets for fans to see their favorite stars back then. Tthere was no Entertainment Tonight or other show-business news shows back then, no blogs, no “official fan web sites”, etc. I know my mother would tune into certain variety shows just see her favorite actors and singers “guest star” that week – she’d watch something else otherwise.
Comment by Siergen — November 28, 2008 @ 7:36 pm - November 28, 2008
I saw this debacle only because Mom wanted to see how Liza would do. She’s finished. Watching this show was rubbernecking.
They need to put the old Carol Burnett Shows on DVD. If they can clear music for SNL and The Muppet Show this shouldn’t be hard. They even released the abysmal shows that killed variety shows the first time around like Pink Lady and Jeff, yet the other, watchable stuff is MIA because music publishers want more for the multitudes of songs used than they are worth.
Comment by Attmay — November 28, 2008 @ 8:38 pm - November 28, 2008
I liked Kathy Griffin’s bit as Nancy Grace, that was about it though
Comment by Darkeyedresolve — November 28, 2008 @ 8:58 pm - November 28, 2008
Attmay,
the Carol Burnett Shows are already on DVD, I think through TIME LIFE or some outfit like that — my friend has all of them.
Comment by American Elephant — November 29, 2008 @ 2:53 am - November 29, 2008
Comment by ThatGayConservative — November 29, 2008 @ 3:49 am - November 29, 2008
Crud
Comment by ThatGayConservative — November 29, 2008 @ 3:50 am - November 29, 2008
Carol Burnett DVDs may be ordered here via Guthy-Renker. My family has two sets of 10 (?) DVDs, but be careful when you order — if you don’t want more, you have to call and tell them or they’ll continue to send them and bill you. Some of the best T.V. ever done.
These days, celebrity popularity is often measured in Google/search engine matches and hits. I would imagine that shopping a show idea could be potentially justified with the number of mentions, articles, blog entries re. a particular celebrity found on any given day. The best way to relegate a particularly obnoxious celebrity to obscurity is not to mention him/her at all. To these folks, buzz of any kind is their bread-and-butter and bad publicity is far better than no publicity.
Comment by Ignatius — November 29, 2008 @ 11:04 am - November 29, 2008
Strange — link got eaten. I meant here.
Comment by Ignatius — November 29, 2008 @ 11:06 am - November 29, 2008
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Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the Variety Show format fail because celebrities became less talented, more vapid, and dislikable, or were celebrities able to become so because variety shows failed and so talent and personality became less important in hiring?
Comment by American Elephant — December 1, 2008 @ 2:54 am - December 1, 2008
“… Hollywood is different now. I simply don’t think today’s celcebrities have the stature to pull it off.”
Didn’t watch the show (once Rosie became political she also became unwatchable — not that I was a huge fan before that), but from the promos I don’t remember ONE celebrity I would care to see in a variety show format.
Someone mentioned Kathy Griffin was on the show — Her, I’d watch. Give HER a variety show dammit!
Comment by DoorHold — December 1, 2008 @ 4:01 pm - December 1, 2008
#12 – Julie is right; that’s why the Carol Burnett Show in its many incarnations was able to stay on top. Carol was not only talented in her own right, but she surrounded herself with THE BEST. That includes Vicki, Tim, Harvey and Lyle Waggoner.
(As an aside – watching Lyle nowadays, I’m struck by what a hunk he was back in the day. But I digress.)
I think what makes everyone like Carol Burnett is that like Lucille Ball, she never put herself up on a pedestal like a Liz Taylor or Bette Davis. She was “one of us.”
Also, as another comedian pointed out, Carol (like Lucy) had no vanity about her looks. She got the laughs by being herself, even if it meant getting hit by a pie or knocked over by a brick. In fact, I get the feeling nowadays that most young comedic actresses really can’t embrace that concept because they are so hung up on their looks.
For those of you who want to see what vintage comedy REALLY looks like, here’s the infamous “Siamese Elephant” monologue from the Mama’s Family sketch. Pricless:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY
Regards,
Peter H.
Comment by Peter Hughes — December 8, 2008 @ 11:14 pm - December 8, 2008
She didn’t kill it for all of us, but Rosie sure ruined it all for herself -too bad, she WAS funny in the beginning. I never watched her show toward the end, mainly because I got sick of the lets see how many kids we can adopt and broadcast game. She is a fake.
Comment by Nancy Giammarco — April 5, 2009 @ 3:02 pm - April 5, 2009