The Rosie O'Donnell Show

The best thing I can say about her show is that she for the most part had good, main stream, "pop culture friendly" guests on. The best thing I can say about Rosie is that she is probably a cash friendly genius. I mean, she managed to create a talk show based upon her childhood dream of meeting celebrities. She is the ultimate "groupie" and made no bones about it. She's a smart gal and should retire, live privately and laugh all the way to the bank.

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.

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.

this is by far the most annoying talk show i've ever seen. like one person has already commented on here, she goes way overboard with her own opinions. she's so damn annoying it's not even funny. some of her deeds are good, but she tries too hard sometimes to prove she's this nice person. she also tries too hard to be funny way too often. on a scale of 1 to 10 i give this show a 2

Not that there are many other daytime talk shows worth watching, but the Rosie O'Donnell Show is definitely one to avoid. Arguably the highlight of Rosie's entertainment value (over that of any person off the street) is her ability to sing the theme song of nearly all of the TV series that have ever been broadcast.

The best that she can do in the way of entertainment is show off a skill that one can only gain through rigorous, almost religious TV viewing over an entire lifetime. Do we really need to spend our time watching someone's TV show, who is so entrenched in a television centered world view? It seems like a dangerous reinforcement of the repulsive contention that it is acceptable for people to sit in front of the TV as their sole pastime.

No one should subject themselves to any demonstration of such a deeply ingrained acceptance of the idea that a normal lifetime is one that's spent largely parked in front of a box that displays moving pictures on its screen, as the Rosie O'Donnell Show seems to openly advocate.

In engaging in such trivialization of a seriously mentally and physically debilitating lifestyle for Americans, the Show subtly glorifies a lifestyle that does not merit glorification.

From a TV producer's standpoint, it makes perfect sense for the host of a show to openly advocate such television worship.

Other shows, such as the Oprah Winfrey Show are more justifiable, as they advocate things such as reading books, exercising, and other concerns that are not so directly connected with television and the entertainment industry. True, there is marketing that's mixed in with the advocacy of almost anything, but almost anything is preferable to what amounts to advocacy of Couch Potatohood. Other daytime talk shows more actively advocate activities other than watching television.