Nov 29 2008
Rosie Vs. Ellen: Will Variety Make a Comeback?
In weeks leading up to Wednesday’s show, NBC was flooded with promos for Rosie Live, Rosie O’Donnell’s return to TV. To be honest, it wasn’t entirely clear to me what the show was going to be. Was it another talk show? A series? A one-time event? Who’s going to be on it? Well, when Wednesday finally rolled around, I was making Thanksgiving Day preparations and–like the rest of America, apparently–forgot to watch it. Whatever It was.
It seems I didn’t miss much, as reviews for Rosie Live were scathing. “Big ego trip”, “Dubious guest star power”, and “Not funny” were some common complaints. The big ego one is something a lot of Rosie O’Donnell fans have been disappointed by. Back in the day when she had her own talk show, her genuine love of music and occasional back-up for singers she admired was cute and endearing. But when it turns into albums of duets and big stage productions where talented singers have to harmonize with a loud and tone-deaf diva–not so cute anymore.
Critics also pointed out Rosie’s colorful language and boob jokes as not really appropriate for what’s supposed to be family entertainment. Rosie Live also had awkward humor with guest Clay Aiken, pointing up the fact that both are “Gayyyy-briel Byrne fans.” Ha. ha. Along with this hilarity were pie-in-the-face moments with Conan O’Brien and dancing food for a finale. Professional reviewers and readers alike both expressed disappointment at this devastating blow to a potential variety-show revival. It was a total disaster, and Rosie Live has already been canceled.
Hopes ran higher for tonight’s variety offering from Ellen DeGeneres and TBS. Ellen’s Even Bigger Really Big Show took a different route than Rosie Live, and didn’t feature any widely known stars. Choosing a variety of performers from Germany, Russia, and Spain amongst others, these acrobats, jugglers, singers, magicians and uncategorized talents Ellen provided us with were something truly special for TV entertainment. It was like America’s Got Talent without all the grating melodrama and booing and ridiculousness. From the first act to the last of Ellen’s Even Bigger Really Big Show, audience members (and I) stared in jaw dropping fascination at spectacles like an acrobat spinning two stories up around a pole–by her hair. Oh yeah, and the pole was being held upright by her brother down on the stage.
The female juggler from Spain did a large portion of her juggling with her feet–spinning a guitar around first, and then using all four limbs to juggle squares of brocade cloth. It sounds bizarre–and it was–but it was also awesome and incredible and ridiculously entertaining. Another startling sight was unintentional–the Cirque du Soleil acrobats actually faltered on one of their routines, but they expertly saved themselves and luckily no one actually fell. Honestly I think it was a good thing–the Cirque performers are so insanely skilled that they make these amazing feats look easy, and the audience can get lulled into complacency. Seeing the actual danger of falling from a tower of performers jolted everyone back to reality, and to greater appreciation of their talent.
The Even Bigger, Really Big Show was also short and sweet at an hour, not overstaying its welcome, and focusing the show on the performers and their abilities and not on a lot of goofy sketches. There was a funny segment about Ellen inserting herself into a Vegas Legends show of celebrity impersonators–and then audience members afterward were interviewed about how realistic the “Ellen” was. The biggest laugh came from a woman who said the “impersonator” was a little too pretty to play Ellen.
My only complaint about Ellen’s Even Bigger Really Big Show was oddly one of the same complaints made about Rosie Live. As Ellen DeGeneres began her humorous monlogue, I was thinking that Ellen has always been big on being considered a comedian, not a gay comedian, so she doesn’t generally bring it up a lot in her act. And then Ellen made a kind of lame pun about being gay.
And while I was thinking that Ellen’s also less likely to be brash and inappropriate like Rosie is more wont to do, Ellen made jokes about boobs, thongs, and hookers. And then said we should all look forward to a night of family entertainment. Um, okay. Now, truly, her monologue was funny and relatively tame compared to a lot of TV today, so I don’t think any kids will be scarred. But it was very odd and seemed out of character to me. Certainly Ellen’s surrealistic humor is good enough to work in a more G-rated environment. Do they think the adults won’t watch if there aren’t a few thong jokes thrown in? I’m thinking people looking for boob humor aren’t the same people who are going to watch a variety show, but maybe I’m wrong.
In any case, I think it’s safe to say Ellen DeGeneres won this round of the Variety Show Divas. And hopefully whatever damage Rosie O’Donnell may have done to the genre was undone by Ellen’s Even Bigger Really Big Show. I wonder how long the title for her next variety show will be.
