The Rosie O'Donnell Show

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The Rosie O'Donnell Show
The Rosie O'Donnell Show
Genre	Talk show
Starring	Rosie O'Donnell John McDaniel
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndication
Original run	June 10, 1996 – May 22, 2002
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

The Rosie O'Donnell Show is a popular American daytime television talk show hosted and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell It aired for six seasons from 1996 to 2002. Topics often discussed on the show were: Broadway, children, extended families and charitable works, people and organizations.

1 The show
2 Trivia
3 Sources
4 External links

[edit] The show

On June 10, 1996, The Rosie O'Donnell Show premiered, and proved extremely successful; early on O'Donnell was dubbed "The Queen of Nice" by Newsweek magazine for her sweet personality which was a stark contrast to many other talk shows of the era.

The show was also known for featuring extended production numbers from Broadway shows which were often seen as too time consuming on other shows. In some ways, The Rosie O'Donnell Show did for Broadway what Oprah Winfrey did for books. O'Donnell was known for keeping a light-hearted nature during the show as she playfully interviewed her guests and interacted with her audience. Commonly O'Donnell would throw koosh balls into the audience throughout the show; this gag expanded through the years to include automated koosh-projecting devices in the ceiling.

Unique introductions by a members of audience were made at the beginning of each episode. (Hi! I'm ____, from ___,__; and this is The Rosie O'Donnell Show. On today's show: ___,___.___. Hit it John!!) The show won multiple Emmys during its run.

The show ended after Rosie chose to leave to become a full-time mom.

[edit] Kids Are Punny

A long-running segment of the show involved telling jokes that children from around the United States mailed into the studio. These jokes were eventually compiled into two books (and eventually a TV special) entitled Kids Are Punny; proceeds from the book went to children's charity programs.

[edit] Shows at the Ed Sullivan Theater

In October 1996, a fire broke out at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. As a result, the show resumed taping in the Ed Sullivan Theater (where David Letterman tapes his show) for four days. The first episode taped back in the normal studios featured a beginning scene reminscent of The Wizard of Oz, in which Rosie awakes from a dream.

[edit] The Tom Selleck incident

On May 18, 1999, actor Tom Selleck, a member of the National Rifle Association, sparred with O'Donnell on the issue of gun control. Selleck was invited to the show to promote his latest movie, The Love Letter, but found himself instead defending his position on gun ownership. Selleck refused to be drawn into a heated discussion by saying: "It's your show, and you can talk about it after I leave." O'Donnell was highly criticized for this, which led her to make an apology to Selleck by saying: "For him feeling embarrassed and humiliated by me, I strongly do apologize to him personally, but I do not apologize for my feelings about this issue gun control."^[1]

[edit] Guest hosts

In April 2001, Rosie had a two-week absence from her show because of a staph infection. She had guest hosts take her place, including Joy Behar, Meredith Vieira, Barbara Walters, Kathy Griffin, and Caroline Rhea.

[edit] Finale

The final live episode aired on May 22, 2002. It featured an opening which was a salute from Broadway, featuring Vanessa Williams and John Lithgow (who were both appearing on Broadway at the time). The guests were Nathan Lane and Christine Ebersole. The final segment of the show featured a video made by Rosie that blended her personal life with her talk show life, to the song "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell. The conclusion of the show featured Tom Cruise, who cut Rosie's grass and said, "Rosie, I cut your grass, and here is your lemonade." (A reference to one of the show's running gags, that O'Donnell adored Tom Cruise).

[edit] Trivia

Rosie O'Donnell's endorsement of the Tickle Me Elmo played a large part in the huge popularity of the toy. In 2006, O'Donnell showed Tickle Me Elmo Extreme (TMX) on The View.

O'Donnell served Drake's snack cakes to audience members on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, which helped contribute to increased sales of Drake's cakes.

During the show, O'Donnell claimed her "favorite human" was Tom Cruise.

The last episode of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show was aired on May 22, 1992, exactly ten years before the airing of the last episode of The Rosie O'Donnell Show.