Bye-bye, Rosie

By Danny Huddleston

I must admit I enjoyed reading the bad reviews of Rosie O'Donnell's ego trip /variety show. It couldn't have happened to a nicer conspiracy theorist. Only 5 million viewers tuned in to see "Rosie Live"on NBC. Do we need any more proof that liberals are not funny?

It's so sad to see Elizabeth Hasselbeck's nemesis suffer a potentially career ending debacle. NBC the parent company of MSNBC has learned a valuable lesson. Outside of that narrow slice of the cable network that they dominate, almost no one in the general population is interested in shows headlined by a liberal firebrand like Rosie

Here is a sampling of the reviews:

From thrfeed:

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. A mere 5 million viewers tuned in for the 8 p.m. premiere of "Rosie Live," with the program earning a 1.2 preliminary adults 18-49 rating. The telecast matched ABC's recently cancelled "Pushing Daisies" as the night's lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network.

From TV Guide:

If the TV variety format weren't already dead, the ghastly ego trip of NBC's Thanksgiving-eve turkey Rosie Live would surely have killed it. Like the pie Alec Baldwin predictably pushed into Conan O'Brien's face that fell to the floor without sticking, the entire hour landed with a sickening, sad, ill-conceived thud. It felt like an off night at America's Got Talent, bookended by wobbly appearances from Liza Minnelli and Gloria Estefan, each forced to perform with the caterwauling host, Rosie O'Donnell.

And this from a sympathetic LA Times:

Two words: Dancing food. "Rosie Live" ended with dancing food. There's nothing else to say, really except perhaps, Liza Minnelli. "Rosie Live" opened with a little song and dance from Liza Minnelli, who rose to the stage, as if from the grave, to sing a duet with O'Donnell, in a luminous white suit, complete with fetching Broadway hat. Liza, we love you, we will always love you, but there is no shame in retirement. [....]

For those of us who are, and remain, Rosie fans, who think "The View" will never quite recover from her departure, who think her desire to resurrect the variety show was, and is, a great idea, disappointment does not even begin to describe it. [....]

"Rosie Live" may enter the realm of unsolved mysteries, along with the fate of Amelia Earhart and the design team of the pyramids. O'Donnell was clearly attempting to recapture the uplifting unapologetic wonder of the big Broadway musical and the television variety show. But having a bunch of talented guests does not a terrific show make-you have to actually give them something interesting to do. Otherwise you're left with, well, a rubber turkey.