Shitty Ellen

[Mister Six]

I also remember it dropped of a cliff (comedy-wise) around the time of the Coming Out, and its demise shortly afterwards was blamed on homophobia.

Er, yeah, because of the actual homophobia involved in advertisers dropping out because they didn't want to be linked to a lesbian.

[Famous Mortimer]

What is Ferguson up to now? Enjoying life, hopefully. He seems like a good sort.

Without going to check Wikipedia and spoiling the fun, he did a daytime game show for a while (Celebrity Name Game? Sounds awful) and I also remember seeing a few ads for a new standup show. His novel was alright too. Re: the bad interview bit, do you remember the Wilford Brimley thing? It was a long-running joke that viewers would send in potential Brimley sightings, until one day they got him on as a guest. I've no idea why Brimley agreed to it, he was long retired by that point and had zero interest in being interviewed, and the whole segment was a complete trainwreck.

I got one of the snake mugs he used to have on the show, too, from the New Mexico Rattlesnake Museum, which made it across the Atlantic with me completely unscathed til I broke one of the teeth off just carrying it down a corridor.

I also quite liked his predecessor, Craig Kilborn (also the original host of the Daily Show). I gather he was sub-cancellation-but-still-not-great level with a few women on his various shows, but he was another excellent interviewer and I liked his "bits" too. The idea of people with personalities like Kilborn and Ferguson getting long-running talk shows seems odd, with how anodyne they all seem to be in 2020.

[gilbertharding]

Er, yeah, because of the actual homophobia involved in advertisers dropping out because they didn't want to be linked to a lesbian.

Sorry - yes, that was undoubtedly the reason it was dropped. But to be clear, it was also no longer funny (in my opinion).

[lipsink]

The sitcom never seems to be repeated, but in its time it was a classic example of mainstream sitcom with a bland central character surrounded by funnier supporting players: Clea Lewis (described in Wikipedia as "Ellen's annoying friend" but in the 90s queen of kooky characters who weren't Lisa Kudrow), Ayre Gross (who's also in the best episode of Friends), Joely Fisher (archetypal slutty best friend), Jeremy Piven (who some people seem to like), etc.

It also had Patrick Bristowas in it as a recurring character . He's a classic "that guy", particularly of 90s sitcoms. (He was in episodes of 'Seinfeld', Friends, The Larry Sanders Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm and probably most famous now as the choreographer in 'Showgirls'.)

Ellen's mum and dad were hilarious too. Pretty damn good cast, I have to say.

[Clownbaby]

I really don't think we're going to see a charismatic new talk show host. As in a brand new one. I have a bad feeling  they might try Lily Singh in this slot cause she might appeal to the Ellen screamers. If yous don't know who Lily Singh is, she's shite

[Famous Mortimer]

I like how some sites are reporting "Ellen's wife defends her" or "Ellen's brother defends her" as if that's news. Perhaps it's a subtle insult, like "these are the only people we could dig up prepared to speak up for her".

[Clownbaby]

Aye, there's seemingly very very few celebs who have worked with her or been on her show that have bothered to show any kind of support, which at best pretty much says they're apathetic towards ELLEN, the talk show host who likes to make a big thing about being ''good friends'' with practically every popular guest

[up_the_hampipe]

The celebs putting out statements serves no purpose. Yes, I'm sure she was nice to you, Katy Perry. She's a shitbag to those who she considers beneath her, that's the whole point of this.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Everyone's nice to Katy Perry, she's famous as fuck, they have to be

[Bazooka]

I really don't think we're going to see a charismatic new talk show host. As in a brand new one. I have a bad feeling  they might try Lily Singh in this slot cause she might appeal to the Ellen screamers. If yous don't know who Lily Singh is, she's shite

Lily Singh is insufferable, I'd take 50 James Cordens over that turd, awful.

[Urinal Cake]

I think she had a lot of good will since she got fucked over for coming out and sort of being non-contentious interviewer/host. I guess both of those things are over.

[Clownbaby]

Celebs putting out character statements without purpose are the bread and butter of celeb Twitter and it says a little something if even the most schmoozy/insincere celeb personas don't drop a courtesy post in support for their showbiz-buddy Ellen. I've always had a feeling that the celebs who Ellen is cosmetically nice to are, themselves, aware that she only puts that on for them, are sort of grateful, but also feel absolutely no obligation to convince people she's kind or sincere because they know she isn't and that they're not sure enough about her actual human character to weigh in at all because it's always just been business with her from what they've seen. It could backfire if it's all true. Then they're one of ''Ellen the Mean Girl's mates''. That is sometimes what you get for being strictly business and ''on''. No real charisma, no real connections, no proper allies who'll say ''Ellen's sound crack mate she was always doin good by me ad take a fuckin bullet for er, fuckin sound, just generally a good lass'' - Katy Perry, 2013

[McChesney Duntz]

Do the American people really know how terrible Corden is? I was under the impression that they all thought that the sun shined out of his big fat shitty arsehole.

I may not be the best representative of America and Americanism (I spend a lot of time here, for starters), but believe me, I and everyone I know are well aware of how terrible he is. Those that even know who the fuck he is, that is.

[Clownbaby]

I may not be the best representative of America and Americanism (I spend a lot of time here, for starters), but believe me, I and everyone I know are well aware of how terrible he is. Those that even know who the fuck he is, that is.

Yep. I know Reddit is a bit of a shambles but there seems to be an overwhelming stack of people from the US that have nothing good to say about his show any time he's even casually mentioned.

[up_the_hampipe]

America seemed to sniff him out a lot quicker than the UK did. He's still popular with a staggering amount of morons over here, whereas his show in the US has popular segments that people seem to enjoy in spite of him.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Maybe Ellen could redeem herself by reinventing herself as an unpleasant interviewer. Just have celebs on and berate them until they storm off.  "State of you. Look at your fucking SHOES mate".

[Clownbaby]

I honestly would not have any issue with Ellen myself if she hadn't pushed the ''everyone's friend/Be Kind'' bollocks. She obviously has that seething venom, it can't be held down forever, so it just sits there under the surface. The big career move at the time she was putting together a talk show must have been the ''wholesome image'' but it obviously didn't suit her deep down and that has been clear to many people for a while. Ellen the repulsive villain would be absolutely fine with me. If Ellen were to start doing a bitchy talk show where she openly trades barbs with her pissed off guests without a clean wholesome magnolia backdrop, fair play. i don't necessarily want niceness from my celebs. I want clarity. I hate it when people act like preaching certain qualities to people is the same as having those qualities. She built up an expectation that could only ever disappoint people on an actual interaction. Bad move. Only do that if you're capable of keeping it up and staying ''on'' in a professional setting, whether it's George Bush or a newish actor/actress you've not seen much of yet.

[Noodle Lizard]

Maybe Ellen could redeem herself by reinventing herself as an unpleasant interviewer. Just have celebs on and berate them until they storm off.  "State of you. Look at your fucking SHOES mate".

I think that's pretty much what Chelsea Handler's pitch was.

[Bazooka]

Deep down, it's the most pathetic of jobs, you get the gig because of your supposed personality, your personability and comic flare, yet you have a team of lackeys creating everything you say and you just slime around guests and become less human.  Imagine Stephen King having 30 ghost writers for each book he does.

[Mister Six]

To repeat my question from the other page, why is this all blowing up now? Has something specific just happened? Did a round-up of Ellen's shitty behaviour go viral or something?

[Clownbaby]

Did a round-up of Ellen's shitty behaviour go viral or something?

Yes

[Noodle Lizard]

Oddly, most of the focus in this particular round-up seems to be on other staff members and writers rather than Ellen herself, which is somewhat opposite to what I've understood about working there (staff is normal/fine, Ellen is Satan made flesh).

Then you get pieces like this, which spectacularly miss the point: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/aug/04/so-ellen-degeneres-is-not-as-nice-as-we-thought-shes-been-saying-that-all-along

[Famous Mortimer]

To repeat my question from the other page, why is this all blowing up now? Has something specific just happened? Did a round-up of Ellen's shitty behaviour go viral or something?

The Twitter thread I linked to on page 1 was started in March, and according to this article it was central to bringing these stories to the wider public, and went viral in April. She did herself no favours by claiming being in lockdown was like being in jail; also, her defense of her friendship with mass-murdering war criminal George W Bush probably had quite a lot of people waiting for the right opportunity to stick the boot in.

This article from Variety in April talks about how her staff have been fucked over, receiving no communication about pay or their continuing employment status. Her show has continued to broadcast, just from her home with a skeleton crew (she also brought in a non-union electrical team).

The Insider article has this headline: "News broke in late July that WarnerMedia, the distributor of 'The Ellen Show,' was launching an internal investigation into the show's workplace culture". It looks like Buzzfeed News might have been the thing that forced this to happen - here's the link to the article, which published on July 16th. You could see initially that the other reporting about it was attempting to just throw a few producers under the bus, but she's been so unpleasant to so many people that it keeps getting brought back to her.

[notjosh]

I've always had a feeling that the celebs who Ellen is cosmetically nice to are, themselves, aware that she only puts that on for them, are sort of grateful, but also feel absolutely no obligation to convince people she's kind or sincere because they know she isn't and that they're not sure enough about her actual human character to weigh in at all because it's always just been business with her from what they've seen.

The Dakota Johnson interview where she politely but brutally exposes Ellen's fake TV chumminess for what it is is a gloriously awkward watch:
https://youtu.be/kWYe5MwIS-A?t=14

[Clownbaby]

The Dakota Johnson interview where she politely but brutally exposes Ellen's fake TV chumminess for what it is is a gloriously awkward watch:
https://youtu.be/kWYe5MwIS-A?t=14

Aye it's great

[Mister Six]

The Twitter thread I linked to on page 1 was started in March, and according to this article it was central to bringing these stories to the wider public, and went viral in April. She did herself no favours by claiming being in lockdown was like being in jail; also, her defense of her friendship with mass-murdering war criminal George W Bush probably had quite a lot of people waiting for the right opportunity to stick the boot in.

This article from Variety in April talks about how her staff have been fucked over, receiving no communication about pay or their continuing employment status. Her show has continued to broadcast, just from her home with a skeleton crew (she also brought in a non-union electrical team).

The Insider article has this headline: "News broke in late July that WarnerMedia, the distributor of 'The Ellen Show,' was launching an internal investigation into the show's workplace culture". It looks like Buzzfeed News might have been the thing that forced this to happen - here's the link to the article, which published on July 16th. You could see initially that the other reporting about it was attempting to just throw a few producers under the bus, but she's been so unpleasant to so many people that it keeps getting brought back to her.

Cheers!

[bgmnts]

The Dakota Johnson interview where she politely but brutally exposes Ellen's fake TV chumminess for what it is is a gloriously awkward watch:
https://youtu.be/kWYe5MwIS-A?t=14

Hahaha.

Imagine being 50+ and being shitty about not being invited to a birthday party.

[Icehaven]

Then you get pieces like this, which spectacularly miss the point: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/aug/04/so-ellen-degeneres-is-not-as-nice-as-we-thought-shes-been-saying-that-all-along

I read that yesterday and thought how odd it was, as if it's perfectly fine to build a hugely successful career out of having a "nice" tv persona and going on about being kind then be a cunt behind the scenes, as long as you occasionally make a few jokes implying you aren't always all light and joy. Besides who doesn't do that? Self deprecation is hardly rare and it's certainly no get out of jail free card for treating people shabbily.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Eyes like Bez.

[thr0b]

I really liked the Ferguson show too. His almost entirely improvised approach inevitably led to some eggy moments - Ferguson trying to keep an interview afloat with a boring guest was flop-sweat excruciating - but for the most part he was very likeable and quick-witted. Unlike Corden, he managed to capture some of the genuinely freewheeling spirit of Letterman in his pomp, but with his own distinctive spin.

What is Ferguson up to now? Enjoying life, hopefully. He seems like a good sort.

Craig moved back to Scotland a year or two ago, and is basically taking a break from showbiz. Still does the odd bit here and there, and tours his stand-up shows in America.

I really, really miss his Late Late Show. It didn't feel like a Late Night Talk Show in the same way as the others, but a British take on the format. Which is ironic, as that format would never be risked over here.