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The Ellen Show ran from September 2001 until January 2002 on CBS.
Ellen DeGeneres played a fallen star who returned to her small town roots in this screw-ball comedy. Ellen Richmond ( DeGeneres), had become a national celebrity through her L.A. based internet company, Homelearn.com, but while on a triumphal visit to her hometown of Clark, she learned that the company had suddenly gone bankrupt. She decided to stay in Clark and restart her life without the pressures of the big city. She moved in with her fussy mother Dot ( Cloris Leachman), who had kept Ellen's room exactly the way it was the day she had moved to L.A., and her insecure younger sister Catherine (Emily Rutherford), who was jealous of Dot's closeness to Ellen. Catherine wanted desperately to find a man but had a history of chosing losers for suiters. Mr. Munn ( Martin Mull), Ellen's former teacher and now the principal of Clark High School, gave her a job as a school guidance counselor. Other teachers at the school were Ellen's one time prom date Rusty (Jim Gaffigan), a gentle soul who wanted to rekindle their romance and didn't notice that she was openly gay; Bunny (Diane Delano), the lesbian gym teacher; and Pam ( Kerri Kenney), the home economics teacher with whom Ellen barely got along.
A Review From Entertainment Weekly
What's most radical about Ellen DeGeneres' new show is that it isn't radical at all. As a calculated tonic to the polemicized last season of ''Ellen'' -- which took so much political heat that it was written off as unfunny, arguably an unfair assessment -- ''The Ellen Show'' is a slice of Nick at Nite, albeit with a matter of factly gay lead character. ''People don't want to see someone struggle,'' says DeGeneres. ''They want to see everybody having fun.... So we've created this wonderful fantasy town.... It's like those ridiculous shows I grew up watching, like 'Petticoat Junction' -- a classic TV show that makes you feel good.''
The show's most salient feature is probably the ensemble-troupe vibe. Says costar Martin Mull: ''Jim [Gaffigan] pointed out the other day that he, Ellen, Cloris [Leachman], and myself have all had our own shows. And now here we are together, like a veterans' administration.'' And at 75, Leachman definitely qualifies as the ranking officer. En route to her dressing room, she passes the one belonging to ''Will & Grace'' star Eric McCormack, who shoots the NBC show on the soundstage just next door. But don't ask Leachman about having TV's biggest gay-friendly hit for a neighbor. ''Eric McCormack? Who is that?'' She's not kidding. ''I just don't see any television, dear,'' she says. ''Including my own, just in case you think I'm being highfalutin.''
CBS is betting that the TV audience will be a lot keener on spending Friday nights at home with ''The Ellen Show'' than Leachman is. Why strand a high-profile newbie on a traditionally backwater night? Easy, says CBS senior VP of comedy development Wendi Goldstein: ''Last year, we lost 'Bette' and 'Welcome to New York' on Wednesday nights. This year, we've got a very strong Thursday with 'Survivor' and 'CSI.' That lets us promote Fridays effectively with younger audiences, which we hope will give 'The Ellen Show' a chance to get its legs. And it's where we started out 'Everybody Loves Raymond.'''
DeGeneres remains keenly aware that everybody does not necessarily love Ellen -- or ''Ellen,'' or possibly, by extrapolation, ''The Ellen Show.'' After chatting a good hour with no holds barred, she comes back for a follow-up the next day with a full blown panic attack comedy routine at the ready. ''Y'know, I went home last night thinking, Did I say anything I'm gonna regret? All that coming-out stuff,'' she says, with a mock quavery voice and darting eyes. ''Jesus. Lighten up, Ellen. Why do I have to opinionate about everything? No one should come out! We have enough gay people, we don't need any more! What's the matter with me, running off at the mouth like that? Just shut up already.'' She eyes the cassette recorder capturing this mock mea culpa, and pauses just long enough to sweeten the punchline. ''Where's that tape?!'' -- Steve Daly
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