Binside TV: ROSIE ODONNELL

Is anyone really surprised that Rosie O'Donnell's attempt to bring back the Variety show format flopped? Everyone hated the show starring the former View host who hasn't been a media darling since her morning talk show went off the air 10 years ago.

It also didn't help improve Rosie O'Donnell's public image when she re-ignited the feud between herself and her former boss Barbara Walters. The former "queen of nice" is now seen by many people as the "queen of mean."

We didn't tune in to the whole thing but that pie in the face skit with Conan O'Brien and Alec Baldwin was painful. Rosie O'Donnell nixed the possibility of NBC doing more variety show specials following Thanksgiving Eve's "Rosie Live" and cited a few reasons why she thought the program flopped.

Answering fan questions on her blog and writing in her usual poem-stanza fashion, O'Donnell was asked if she will host more variety show episodes next year:

there will b no more
no ratings
bad reviews
yet still - a thrill 4 me

One dismayed O'Donnell fan wrote of the ratings: "5 million is a lot of people!! just wanted to let u know I LOVED it. Liza's entrance was so magical!!"

O'Donnell's reply:

thanks doll
it is a lot of people
but not enough 4 a pick up

One viewer asked why O'Donnell thought the show wasn't more successful. O'Donnell agreed with those who emailed to say her stage lighting was too dark, and added:

not enough rehearsal
the live part wasnt a plus
the in theater experience didnt transfer to tv
...
we were going for ed sullivan
and theres only one carol b
and hey
i gave it my best shot

O'Donnell also posted a few critical emails, including this one: "What sucks worse, you or your crappy variety show? When will you learn that noooobody likes you, hell, your dog probably doesn't even like you."

O'Donnell responded:

woof

"Rosie Live" tied an episode of "Pushing Daisies" as the lowest-rated program Wednesday night in the preliminary ratings (nationals will be released Monday), and suffered harsh reviews from critics. source

JustJared.com writes Rosie tried to revive the variety show format with Rosie Live! this Wednesday. Apparently the show flopped, with only 5 million tuning in to watch the NBC special.

Rosie, 46, blogged, “There will b no more. No ratings. Bad reviews. Yet still – a thrill 4 me… If the bloggers didnt like it, I knew it didn’t work.”

The reason for the cancellation was” “Not enough rehearsal. The live part wasn’t a plus. The in-theater experience didn’t transfer to TV. It was a pilot, meaning u try it [and] see if it works. Then if they pick it up, u fix it.” But variety shows aren’t dead! In good spirits, Rosie says, “Many people r gonna try a variety show. One will work. Ellen tonight. The Osbournes have one. John Mayer. Check them out.” source

The Hollywood Reporter spread the news about Rosie Live and the poor performance.

Rosie O'Donnell's attempt to bring back the variety show failed - miserably!

Wednesday night's broadcast of Rosie Live was barely watched, delivering just 5 million viewers.

Ouch!

Plus, reviews for the show were horrible and sources tell us that the show wasn't exactly "live."

Oh, well. Nice try!

Hopefully the Osbournes will have better luck when their variety show debuts next month!

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 canceled "Pushing Daisies" as the night's lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network.

NBC had high hopes for the special and planned to expand the program into a series should viewers re-embrace the decades-old variety format. Other networks, too, were watching closely since several are developing variety shows of their own.

"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."

Segments included Kathy Griffin impersonating Nancy Grace, Alec Baldwin hitting Conan O'Brian with a pie, O'Donnell singing "City Lights" with Liza Minnelli and Jane Krakowski doing a product-placement-themed striptease for White Castle burgers and Crest Whitestrips.

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?" source

Barbara Walters lashed out at her former View co-hosts and aimed a specific comment at Rosie O'Donnell who has been telling everyone that people aren't friends behind the scenes of the View. Star Jones spoke out about her treatment on The View in the November issue of Essence magazine. “Those girls were hateful,” Jones says of her former co-hosts. source

Watch Barbara blow a gasket on the View. The fallout from this is probably going to be pretty big. There are rumors of backstage bickering which reached new heights with Elisabeth Hasselbeck's screaming matches during the presidential election. Click on the image to watch Rosie's video reply to Barbara Walters on her blog.

Rosie O'Donnell's reaction videos to the feud are pretty entertaining too. Rose made light of the Barbara Walters feud during her appearance on Conan O'Brien.

Rosie O'Donnell isn't done dissing "The View." Last night on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", Rosie couldn't keep her mouth shut when it came to Barbara Walters and her co-hosts.

O'Donnell, sarcastically, informed O'Brien she "didn't have a career before the show" and she is "very thankful" for the boost the show gave her career. Before her brief stint Walter's ABC talk show, Rosie won multiple Emmys for her own "The Rosie O'Donnell Show." The days of flying Koosh balls and The Queen of Nice are long gone.

The root of this whole beef? Babs is angry over Rosie's claims that Walters sugarcoats the relationships between the ladies of "The View." Rosie told Conan, "She now loaths me. I still do enjoy her... I'm not sure I'm going to be a guest on that show again." source

It’s Rosie O’Donnell vs. Barbara Walters, and sorry: Rosie will get the last laugh.

O’Donnell is set to take TV by storm next Wednesday when she debuts her "Rosie Live" show on NBC at 8pm. The live variety show — which will undoubtedly get a lot of press and viewers — is a try-out for Rosie’s planned weekly "Ed Sullivan"-like show that should start by February.

But yesterday Barbara Walters, the ancient mariner of "The View," didn’t like it when Rosie spoke about her rollercoaster year on the show. Rosie’s been responding to questions about the show while doing publicity for 'Live' show. She told reporters that there isn’t a lot of camaraderie on "The View" among the co-hosts. No kidding.

Barbara’s slick answer? She took two of the co-hosts — Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg — to dinner Wednesday night at Le Cirque. It might be the first time the three of them have been seen in public together not at an ABC event ever. Of course it was an event—a well staged one in fact considering the backstage bickering at that show that has had nothing to do with O’Donnell.

In fact, the noted absence of dopey Elizabeth Hasselbeck and loose lipped Sherri Shepherd from the Le Cirque gathering spoke volumes. Hasselbeck, a former reality TV star who’s been very lucky, fought with Walters and the others for months leading up to the recent presidential election. Shepherd has long been rumored to be on the chopping block at the show.

In fact: O’Donnell — Goldberg (whom I love) notwithstanding — brought more life to the turgid, fawning "View" in her one year than ABC could ever have hoped for. The network offered her $10 million to stay, but wanted a three year commitment. O’Donnell was wise enough to cut her losses and get out when the going was good.

"Rosie Live" should be an enormous hit if O’Donnell can keep the show tightly rehearsed and scripted, family friendly and most of all, positive in its celebration of Broadway, New York, and the arts. That isn’t to say that we won’t see the "other" Rosie — the cutting edge one. But "Rosie Live" is going to be about comedy, something she excels at. source