''Rosie Live'' is a

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp� ...

starring

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American talk show host, comedian, and actress. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' in 1984. After a series of television ...

that aired November 26, 2008 live from New York's Little Shubert Theatre on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. It contained singing, dancing, comedy routines and specialty acts. However, poor critical response and ratings doomed the project, and it was unofficially canceled.

Production

The show was produced by

Universal Media Studios Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a division of Universal Studio Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which, in turn, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It serves as the networ ...

in association with O'Donnell's KidRo Productions. Rosie O'Donnell and David Friedman were the co-executive producers. The show was broadcast live in accordance with O'Donnell's preference for live programming instead of tape.

Guests

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...

and

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

were the featured singers.

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, and dancer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, ...

and

Gloria Estefan Gloria María Milagrosa Estefan (; ; born September 1, 1957) is an American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is an eight-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of t ...

performed duets with O'Donnell. The Lombard Twins tap danced. Anti-Gravity performed a spinning act. The special also included performances by Rosie's Broadway Kids and guest appearances by Kathy Griffin,

Conan O'Brien Conan Christopher O'Brien (born April 18, 1963) is an American television host, comedian, writer, actor, and producer. He is best known for having hosted Late-night talk show, late-night talk shows, beginning with ''Late Night with Conan O'B ...

Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She starred as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Out ...

, Harry Connick, Jr.,

Clay Aiken Clayton Holmes Aiken (''né'' Grissom; born November 30, 1978) is an American singer, television personality, actor and political activist. Aiken finished second place on the second season of ''American Idol'' in 2003, and his debut album, '' Me ...

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosted the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program '' Rachael Ray''. Other programs to her credit include ''30 Minut ...

and

Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor and film producer. He is known for his leading and supporting roles in a variety of genres, from comedy to drama. He has received List of awards and nominations received by A ...

. Jennifer Cody appeared in a skit featuring O'Donnell as "Officer Lockstock" and Cody as "Little Sally", a reference to the off-Broadway show ''

Urinetown ''Urinetown: The Musical'' is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bur ...

''. (Cody's husband, Hunter Foster, was in the original cast of ''Urinetown'' and was on the writing staff for ''Rosie Live''.)

Reception

Critical response

The show received almost universally negative reviews from critics. The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' critic Mary McNamara wrote, "For those of us who are, and remain, Rosie fans, who think '' The View'' will never quite recover from her departure, who think her desire to resurrect the variety show was, and is, a great idea, disappointment does not even begin to describe it." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' critic Matt Roush panned the show as "dead on arrival," while '' Variety'' wrote "If Rosie O'Donnell and company were consciously determined to strangle the rebirth of variety shows in the crib, they couldn't have done a better job of it than this pre-holiday turkey."

Ratings

The program finished in third place in its time slot, ahead of ABC and

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

but behind

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

Cancellation

Initial plans were to, if the show had been successful, use the special as a

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

for a series of new ''Rosie Live'' episodes beginning January 2009, which would have made it the first traditional variety show to air as a regular series in the United States since '' The Wayne Brady Show'' in 2001, and the first on NBC since '' Marie'' and the infamous '' Pink Lady and Jeff'' in 1980. However, ''Rosie Live'' did not return due to poor ratings.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1324891 2000s American television specials Television pilots not picked up as a series 2000s American variety television series 2008 television specials American live television series American English-language television shows Rosie O'Donnell