Rosie presents middle America’s worst nightmare in primetime

Posted by Dan December 1st, 2008 at 11:28am In The Gays

What is there to say about Rosie’s Variety Hour?

‘Twas a bizarre venture from the start — taking the once family-friendly comedian/talk show host (turned polarizing, lesbian lighting rod for chat show conflict) and having her host what they pitched as an old-timey variety show with song, dance, comedy and celebrity guests. It seems like a fine idea objectively speaking, but to have Rosie at the helm is to damn the project entirely.

I keep trying to think of who they expected would watch this show (update: Rosie LOL-haiku-ed that there will “b no more” today). At this point, Rosie’s almost a cult figure — appealing almost entirely to lesbian moms and the dangerously liberal. It’s hard to think about what major demographics would really get excited about this, much less imagine who thought this could be a runaway success.

I actually watched the first episode, which aired the night before Thanksgiving.  Truthfully, the thing that took me aback was the fact that it was probably the gayest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Since Rosie is essentially both a lesbian and a gay man, the show featured her wearing an awkwardly femme outfit while leading the uber show-bizzy production (it a very sing-y, dance-y event — an hour-long embodiment of “jazz hands”).

I’ve been given rainbow condoms by a drag queen at the gay pride parade, but I wasn’t really prepared for the level of camp and theatricality on Rosie’s comedy hour. The routines were pretty shockingly gay-centric for a show that one would imagine is targeted to a similar audience as American Idol. After starting out with some of Rosie’s hackey jokes about gay men and high heels and an appearance by Liza herself, who should show up but Clay Aiken.  And they proceeded to tell gay jokes for four hours.

I don’t know.  I was just kind of shocked that even in this new, progressive Yes We Can era of American culture, that this would fly. Not that it’s a bad thing to have gays being out and proud in primetime, it was just a bizarre mixture of elements to have in a much-hyped show.

All in all, I would probably just have to say that this is unnecessary programming. I don’t know if the premise is just un-executable or if they botched it. It seemed like a telethon with no cause, with shamed guest celebrities performing clunky comedic skits and song and dance routines that aren’t actually entertaining.

Aside from the gays there were appearances by Alec Baldwin (NBC says “Watch 30 Rock”), Jane Krakowski (NBC says “Watch 30 Rock”), Harry Connick Jr., Gloria Estefan, and Alanis Morisette (um, why not?).

Here’s a bit of what you (probably) missed: