The Rosie O'Donnell Show

Back in the 90s Rosie was as relevant as Pikachu. I was a snot nosed lil punk back then therefore I didn't understand the politic side of things.

For the show it was a more humble show. She had various guests they spoke about controversial subjects, and it wasn't as obnoxious as lets say the Wendy Williams show. She was an out spoken host which was a good thing back in those days.

Yea her show was a very 90's show.

Verdict: Its an ok show. I don't know much about Rosie so her position doesn't affect how i feel about the show.

It all started innocently enough. Stand-up comedienne Rosie O'Donnell, who made a name for herself by becoming a five time Comedy champion on the talent competition show "Star Search," was offered the chance to host her own daily talk show. Carnie Wilson, who had been hosting a show, wasn't working out, and Rosie, with her quick wit and sense of humor seemed like she could improve on Carnie's ratings.

Rosie had some serious chops by this point, having been in a series of successful ensemble films, like "A League of Their Own," "Beautiful Girls," a live action version of "The Flintstones" where she played Betty Rubble, and even hit the Broadway stage as Rizzo in a revival of Grease.

In June of 1996, "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" debuted. The show was telecast live to many East Coast and Central time zone affiliates and shown on a tape delay to the rest. The program was tailored to Rosie's personality and interests and people from both the worlds of entertainment and the areas of charity were typical guests on the show.

John McDaniel served as the program's musical director, and Rosie dubbed his band "The McD LTs" as a play on the name of a McDonald's sandwich being sold at that time - a cheeseburger that split the lettuce and tomato (the LT of McD LT) in a separate container, to keep it cool and crisp (presumably). It was discontinued because its large Styrofoam container, to separate those ingredients, was finally considered environmentally unfriendly.

Rosie's show was essentially a love fest for the guests she welcomed and she schmoozed with and kissed up to just about everybody who appeared. In fact, with her audience giveaways, her efforts to get people to get in better shape (She created a group called "The Chub Club" which focused on helping people to slim down) all of her charitable donations and support, and her gushing over her guests, Newsweek dubbed her "The Queen of Nice."

Two celebrities that Rosie purportedly had an obsession over were Tom Cruise, who she would frequently reference as "My Tommy" on the show and would extol all of the wonders of his acting career and looks, and Barbra Streisand, who she constantly stated as being one of the most important figures in her life and would be a dream to meet. She later did get to interview Ms. Streisand on the program, after flipping her desk and couch set arrangement, so that Babs wouldn't have to look "camera right" to face Rosie at her desk, as Ms. Streisand was noted for only wanting to show the left side of her face on camera!

The tone of the show was typically light, fun, frivolous, essentially it was a gabfest that, like the host, didn't take itself too seriously and was deliberate in avoiding being more than it actually was. And that is likely why so many people wanted to appear: it was just a fun time, and who didn't like the idea of getting a whole lot of love from a admiring host and a fanatical audience, that was often the loudest on television at the time.

New York played a part because Rosie, besides having appeared on The Great White Way herself, was a huge Broadway aficionado and promoter. She would frequently have performances from musicals that were currently running as a part of a program. Plus, most of the Soap Operas were still being filmed in New York, so actors from those daytime dramas also made appearances as part of a typical episode.

But a tragic event changed the tone of everything for Rosie. That was the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, on April 20, 1999. Rosie was severely affected by it, said she had trouble sleeping because of it, and quickly became an advocate for anti-gun laws to help protect kids who were just going to school to learn.

After Columbine, Rosie started having more political guests and openly spoke about "The Million Mom March," which was a protest rally, both at the Mall in Washington DC and in several other high profile cities, designed to demand legislation to improve gun control, especially assault weapons.

The show's turning point occurred when Rosie invited actor Tom Selleck, who at the time was appearing in a commercial for the National Rifle Association, to be a guest on the program. In a heated exchange, both host and guest staunchly defended their stances in a segment that was almost too raw to be believed. Really, to properly do justice to the topic, this likely needed to be the theme of the program, not just one brief segment, because how can you properly discuss an issue as complex and important to people as this one is, in just a couple of minutes?

Many people didn't like the fact that political views that were being offered on a show that they considered "escapism" from the news of the day, and some tuned out. Obviously, they would have been less inclined to put up with it, if they didn't agree with those views! Also, it seemed that the frustration that Rosie was feeling over how the country was reacting to both mass shootings and to her clear position against it, her façade of fun fell away and you could see her more abrasive side as the show continued.

It's notable that According to CNN, since Columbine, there have been 413 mass shootings AT SCHOOLS, as of April 2024. That averages out to be more than 16 school shootings per year, every year for the past 25 years. That's a lot of trauma, heartbreak and death over that time, some of which might have been avoided if we had gotten some support from either the State or Federal Government to help prevent it.

Maybe you aren't a fan of Rosie O'Donnell, generally. Maybe you don't like her political beliefs, and maybe you think she is just another celebrity who needs to "stay in her lane," but, we all have to admit, saving lives is important and some reasonable laws enacted at any time between that horrific tragedy in Colorado and now could have and would have saved lives.

For the hostess of a program that started out as a breezy talk/variety show, Rosie O'Donell did at times display a startlingly opinionated side. That's certainly true. But regarding the infamous dust-up with Tom Selleck, it should be pointed out that Rosie said she had asked Tom if they could have an on-air discussion about gun control and she claimed Tom agreed to it. Anyone watching the day that debacle occurred saw that after the first half of the interview was over, Rosie went to break saying they'd be back to talk about the issue of guns and Tom didn't seem surprised to hear that. "Sounds a lot like America" was his response, so obviously it was not a complete "ambush" on Tom by Rosie as many have unfairly described it.

Clearly, the debate grew more intense than Tom had expected, but one has to wonder if even Rosie went in there intending to so vociferously drive her point home the way she did. Initially, she did allow him time to make his case, but as things wore on she increasingly seemed to jump in before Tom could finish his thoughts on the subject. If nothing else, they may have simply demonstrated that a 10 minute segment is not sufficient time for an in-depth debate about such a complex and emotion-charged topic. It just looked like the two of them got caught up in the moment and yes, Tom, too as he was at times less than polite with her and towards the end he was downright surly.

By the way, while it's been mistakenly claimed to the contrary, before that segment wrapped Rosie most definitely did apologize to Tom. His response was "it's your show, and you can say what you want on it" and then he turned away from her.

I don't think either one of them represented themselves very well during that exchange, but since the emotion they displayed was almost certainly in part fueled by the mood of those painful post-Columbine days, maybe Rosie and Tom should both be cut some slack here. Nobody's perfect, and while you could go back and forth all day long about who was right and who was wrong, one thing is undeniable about that particular incident: it sure was riveting TV.

If I ever understand why this show is so popular, I think I will understand everything there is to know about people.

I would like to stress that if you are a fan of Rosie O'Donnell's show, that you stop reading this review right now, because you are going to hate it with a passion! I am about to tear into Ms. O'Donnell and her show after this sentence, so I suggest you leave now before I offend you.

Now, if you're still here, then you mustn't mind my upcoming Rosie bashing. If you do, than it's your own fault, cuz I warned you. Where do I begin in what I call the worst talk show in the history of television? Let's see, how about the host.

Rosie O'Donnell, as many of you know, was an actress in movies for several years, and in this format, I don't really mind her. In fact, I even saw "The Flintstones" more than once, (Though she would not have been my first choice to play Betty Rubble) In addition to films, she also did some acting on Broadway, like I care! Now, she hosts the worst talk show I have ever seen, and I've seen "The Howard Stern Radio Show" and "Open Mike with Mike Bullard!!"

Granted, the show is on in the day time, therefore it has to be cleaned up a bit. But this show is way too clean for my likes. The comedy is for babies, and the ranting is for yuppies and old people. In the era when most shows try to target an 18-30 demographic, Rosie said, "Nah! I want to appeal mostly to people with no teeth." Great! That leaves babies, old people, and the people of Branson, Missorui. (Sorry, that was one of Dennis Miller's).

Rosie also uses the show as her own personnal forum for expressing her opinions. While I usually aplaud this, it is not something I look for in a talk show. Also, kudos to Rosie for getting involved in so many chariatable organizations, but does she have to keep hitting us over the head with this fact? Fine Rosie, you're great, I'm a loser, are you happy?

Also, there's a limit to how many personal opinions one person can express, or so I thought. Recently, Rosie saw the film, "Fight Club", a film I had planned to go see. The day I was going to go see it, I happened to come across Rosie's show and for some insipid reason, I watched it. There was Rosie, saying how much she hated "Fight Club" and then, in an inforgivable action, announced the ending on the air, ruining the film for me and so many other people!! Why is this applauded? She should have known form the previews that she wouldn't have liked it, cuz it didn't have a namby pamby G rating.

In short, I hate this show! It is the worst Talk show in the history of television.

Overall rating: No stars (Kinda like most of her guests, eh?)

This is probably the most insipid thing that's ever been on TV. I don't know who they are supposed to be appealing to. They stick America's favorite Doyenne of Dumpiness out there to push gooey smarm on the unfortunate viewer for half an hour (except when Rosie goes after something she DOESN'T like, like Tom Selleck, and out comes the bile). I think someone has to be seriously masochistic to actually watch this. I personally can't even stand Rosie doing that wobbly-lookin' chicken dance in commercials on NBC anymore.

Seriously, I seriously think that this show's survival is either some trick of the devil or just because she's some sort of sacred cow to NBC's programmers. I really wonder who this show is supposed to appeal to. Someone staying at home during the afternoon, which eliminates most people with jobs. Poor people? I doubt they would get or be interested in Rosie's rosy and banal world. Independently wealthy people? Usually people that have already made their mark have better things to do than watch TV in the afternoon. Housewives? I guess this has to be it but I've really wondered how they can identify with her not-so-well-disguised... different lifestyle from them. You know what I mean. ;)

Even Rosie's "good person" act is getting tired and definitely wearing thin. A double-edged sword that, as her worldview is apparently rather viciously absolutist and probably quite a few degrees from the mainstream. She's all nice and warm and sugary and likes things that are nice and warm and sugary but anything apart from that, like guns, Fight Club, or whatever and she hits the roof. She's sort of like an evil Miss Manners, or better yet, a socialist counterpart to Dr. Laura (sans the protesters, of course).

I consider this show a one-woman equivalent of Regis and Kathy Lee, but even less scintillating or relevant. One can spend one's life more productively watching the Weather Channel or the Farm Report in the afternoon than this garbage. Even if you like this show, there's better things to do at 3 in the afternoon. Go out, do something big. Direct a movie, write a book, publish a website, start the Save the Children from Big Meanie Republicans Foundation, whatever, and maybe you could actually be a guest on the show.

As for Rosie, well, I'm just waiting 20 years or so for the E! True Hollywood Story about her. I'm really curious as to what that's going to say about her in hindsight.