Every ‘Rosie’ has its thorn
Rosie stands up. (George Burns/OWN)
Like many a gay growing up in the ’90s, I rushed home every afternoon to take in the spectacle of The Rosie O’Donnell Show. Having followed her career since then—The View, a rocky variety special, satellite radio—I was hopeful but not holding my breath for her new evening hour on OWN, The Rosie Show.
Most of my initial concerns were based on press reports. Originally the show was conceived as The Oprah Show, hosted by Rosie O’Donnell, with serious, single-topic hours. Later interviews hedged, promising one celeb per hour. But by its debut, the show had given way to an entertaining variety hour not unlike the original ’90s flavor so many loved, now inoffensively gayer.
Much to my delight, Rosie and her crew quickly settled in to their new home at Harpo, and the show was firing on almost all cylinders by the end of its first week. My only complaint was the off-putting original announcer, now replaced by sunny recently unemployed audience member Hollee, a much better fit.
It seems like Rosie has the final say on just about everything. She frequently admits to running long during the standup/audience interaction monologue. She brazenly cheats for losing contestants during each night’s game segment. And given her extensive experience in live broadcasting, she’s comfortable letting interviews go wherever the conversation takes them.
Rosie is down to book engaging guests, whether or not they have something to promote. This has led to some great chats with folks like Wanda Sykes, Valerie Harper, and Sara Ramirez. It’s also led to some awkward moments, like her recent chat with Tracy Morgan. But she always remains calm, handling celebrity bumps in the road just as she does dud audience members. She riffs when she can, and she keeps the show moving.
But this young show had a major WTF moment Wednesday night when Rosie welcomed standup comic and former Grace Under Fire star Brett Butler. I was actually excited for this interview, having been a fan of that show as well.
Butler is no stranger to struggles with addiction, which in fact was a topic conversation among the three ambling segments in which she appeared. Her deer-in-the-headlights demeanor could easily be attributed to someone who’s been out of the spotlight for over a decade.
Things got off to a rocky start when a disoriented Butler sat down and observed of the audience, “Look at all the bright colors. And on their clothes too.” It was one of many time when the audience, in studio and at home, couldn’t decide if it was meant to be a joke and decided not to laugh, just in case.
The rambling conversation loosely touched on Butler’s sudden rise to fame through that ’90s sitcom, also visiting her struggles with addiction, subsequent retreat from public life, and supposed recent return to the stage. (The clips on OWN’s website do a yeoman’s job of extracting some cogence out of the freewheeling 15-20 minute conversation, but conveniently fail to represent the overall tone of the chat.)
That’s probably because Butler was too busy communicating with the spirit world, because she announced that she is now an involuntary psychic. And guess what? You might be too.
I’m still watching The Rosie Show, and its entertaining moments far outweigh its unwatchable ones. This is the kind of talk show DVRs were invented for. And now I know to keep an eye out, because the next train wreck could already be barreling down the tracks.
THE ROSIE SHOW
Weeknights, 7p/6c, OWN
You have a great writing style and confirmed my feelings about Brett’s super strange interview with Rosie.