The Ellen Show (2001–2002) User Reviews (17)

Failed show deserves to be forgotten

[gizmomogwai · 6/10 · 11 January 2008]

The Ellen Show was an obscure show which premiered in September 2001, when few people were interested in laughing, and quickly failed. I watched the show for the first time, years after its cancellation, for no other reason than that it was co-created by Mitchell Hurwitz, the brains behind Arrested Development, and partially written by Hurwitz and Chuck Martin, who also wrote for AD. Besides Ellen DeGeneres, the show stars Martin Mull, who appeared on AD. The Ellen Show had some promise with Hurwitz on board, but it never fully realizes its potential and stays an average sitcom with mostly uninteresting characters, sometimes predictable humour, sometimes mediocre acting and no deep meaning. Not to mention an annoying laugh track.

The two best episodes are the Pilot, co-written by Hurwitz, and "Joe", the seventh episode which is also written by Hurwitz. These have Hurwitz playing with awkward situations, double meanings, wit, occasional physical humour, and the basic idea of losing a fortune- all of which became bigger on AD. But the rest of The Ellen Show's episodes barely feel Hurwitz's presence, even when he's a credited writer, and Martin's episodes don't achieve much either with such two-dimensional characters.

In short, I had hoped I found a gem no one knew about but discovered the show is obscure for a reason, and it probably deserved to go.

post Ellen

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 7 May 2020]

Ellen Richmond (Ellen DeGeneres) had started four unsuccessful dot coms and has lost funding for her latest one. She returns to her hometown to live with her mother Dot (Cloris Leachman) and flighty sister Catherine (Emily Rutherfurd). The gay entrepreneur reacquaints with former boyfriend Rusty Carnouk (Jim Gaffigan) who is now a teacher at their old school. Pam (Kerri Kenney) and Mr. Munn (Martin Mull) are two other teachers and Ellen joins them as the new school counsellor.

I got a little confused when the show opens with Ellen being gay. Then I realized that this came after her coming out in her previous show. The problem is that I had forgotten about this one mostly due to the fact that this show is so forgettable. The pilot is bad. The setup is nothing new. It's a standard network show. The only difference is that Ellen is gay and no story is written to expand on that part of her life. Eventually, it settles into a bland sitcom. It does have some good sitcom actors and there are a few interesting stories with the kids. Kaley Cuoco is in one of the episodes and she's talking about Penny. Mind blown! Overall, this is a functional sitcom and it lasts only one season.

The best show no-one ever saw

[Schmee · 14 March 2003]

This was a great show, and no matter how much I tried to get people to watch it, I guess my grass roots campaign wasn't quite enough. Canceled. I think that the network really missed the boat on this one. Ellen Degeneres is hands down one of the funniest people alive, and if CBS had promoted this show it would have been a huge success.

What ever happened to giving shows a chance to obtain an audience? Remember that Seinfeld had no audience when it started! Plus, what's with moving the shows around? Even when somebody likes a show they never know when it might be on (I couldn't find the show Norm if my life had depended on it... even with a TVGuide).

The networks have decided to pump up the worthless <garbage> so much to get people to watch them and then they leave good shows to fend for themselves. Something has got to change, or the network shows are going to continue spiraling downward.

Ellen

[ilovemusic2015 · 10/10 · 20 July 2014]

I just finished over the past two days watching the 18 episodes of this show and I cannot believe it was cancelled! It was so funny to see these episodes. I am very glad and proud that they made this show but I am very sad that they didn't continue it. I know why Ellen Degeneres was very sad about this show being cancelled because she loved making people be happy and making people laugh. I am very glad that even though she had a rough start telling people that she was gay she continued being herself as a actress and talk host on her show. Some people said that she acted too gay on this show but she wasn't acting too gay at all she was being herself and her character. I am glad that people appreciate her more now then they did before since of her being gay. I really feel that Ellen Degeneres took a risk but if she didn't take a risk of telling everyone that she was gay she would not be as successful as she is now. No matter if u r gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual or trans gender u deserve to be treated with respect. I admire Ellen Degeneres and hope she continues on a bright path .

The show doesn't center around Ellen's sexual orientation

[Aizyk · 8/10 · 11 January 2002]

...Although from seeing some of the posts here, those unfamiliar with it might end up thinking otherwise. After reading the other comments, I felt compelled to add one of my own. Apparently there is a heterosexist double-standard going on here. When a hetero actor portrays consecutive roles in which hetero dating or intimate relations are involved, (which is most of the time,) whether in movies or on TV, people don't roll their eyes and say "oh brother, they're playing a straight person again." And the comparison between Ellen's character also being gay in this show (after all, she's gay in real life) and Bill Cosby playing another character who is the "upper middle class father of two or three kids" is a specious one. Now if Bill Cosby had another show where his new character was heterosexual (which he is in real life), people..... wouldn't bat an eyelash! Every time something gay related is involved, some people seem to take it as though Ellen is throwing her big gay ways in their faces. She mentions an ex girlfriend. "Oh, please spare us!" She has female/(lesbian!)-oriented posters in her bedroom--and an abstract painting which, one reviewer speculates, "appears" to be a vagina. That's the funny thing about abstract paintings. They "appear" to be different things to different individuals.

Apparently, because Ellen's character is gay, then in some people's minds the show must have a "cause," that because her character is gay, she must be trying to cram lesbianism down Americans' throats. Like an abstract painting, I think that attitude reveals more about the individual who holds it than it does about the subject. The "argument" in favor of this show is that it's funny. But the argument against it shouldn't be that her character is gay.

Aside from the gay issue, I think the quality of the show is improving. The writing seems to be getting better. As for the comment about the laugh track, I hadn't found it distracting, myself. For the record, though, the show is filmed before a live studio audience.

This show should've been given a chance.

[Moonlighting · 4 January 2003]

Everyone should've gave this show a chance. I think if the networks kept it on for another season it might've took off. When 'Ellen' ended it was because in her last season she focused far too much about her opinions and of being a lesbian than anything else. Now there's hardly a mention, people probably wanted a tiny bit more of it, after all 4 years (from the time 'Ellen was cancelled) means things have changed, Will and Grace is out and everyone wants more of that humour. The networks probably cancelled it because the show was trying to become a Mary Tyler Moore reunion show, it was ok Mary playing her aunt, and Cloris her mum, but Betty White and Ed Asner, I think the show would've went right through Mary Tyler Moores cast list. But still, this show was very funny with a good cast, the next time ellen gets a show, keep it!

Wonderful show

[jeanaz-539-736540 · 10/10 · 13 March 2020]

This show should have had many seasons. We really enjoyed it. Great cast!

Great writing and the cast is very good.

[jeanaz-539-736540 · 10/10 · 16 July 2019]

Ellen is so naturally funny. Just discovered this show on the Roku channel. It's really very good. Should have been on much longer.

Taking this show off the air was a HUGE mistake.

[netmoviefan · 13 February 2005]

I had not laughed as hard at each episode since MASH and CHEERS. After I saw this taken off the air, and previously the US version of Men Behaving Badly, I realized that network upper management was seriously clueless about what the people want, and in some cases, are really only looking at the numbers. It's a precedent in business now that alleviates risk, but has been done so many times that risk is not even considered and everyone is now looking at ratings and in correlation, the final line item. It's a hem-and-haw America now. The Edisons and Graham Bells are gone. I'm in the electronic engineering industry and I see the same thing here. I believe it's why the internet bubble popped and now why it will take us FOREVER to move ahead. Just like this show, we have no vision. And even if we do, we're not willing to take the risk.

Irresistible!

[ivan-22 · 16 January 2002]

I thought I was hopelessly stuck in the past, unable to enjoy anything made in recent years. In fact, the cause lay outside myself. This show is very good indeed. I have seen only two episodes, both written by Ric Swartzlander. So, my endorsement of The Ellen Show may be nothing more than an endorsement of this particular writer (though acting is excellent too). I always base my evaluations on the writing. I did not get a chance to see Ellen's first show. I'm looking forward to many more delightful episodes. The humor is gentle/wise, the plot skillfully designed. I don't think another writer could do any better. This is a great contrast with shows based on insult. There is a bit of it there, as condiment, but it doesn't overwhelm the concoction.

The Ellen Show is like good therapy for "whatever ails ye"!

[creekbear · 20 October 2007]

Watching this show is the #1 BEST THING I can do for myself when I need to get past feeling sad, or need to just 'lighten up' a little. When I found the box set at a Best Buy store last year, I was surprised and felt "lucky" to have spotted it. I didn't know (the show) had been made. I'm not sure how I missed it being broadcast! I have always been a loyal fan of Ellen's.(it's a selfish thing on my part.... she simply "cracks me up"!) I have watched these shows over and over... and over again. The dialog is so clever and amazingly written and the delivery of every line, timing and all, is perfect. I love the unspoken contributions these actors make (looks of confusion, matter of fact expression, etc....) It reminds me of the first time I watched the movie Jane Austin's "Mafia", in that... even if you are focusing without distraction, YOU CAN'T "NOT MISS" things the first time you see it! It's just that full of great stuff and soooo funny! I think they should (if nothing else) do a reunion show. It could be somebody's 30th class reunion or something. I just went to my 30th. I wish I could write it!

funny and enjoyable

[luvwahoo · 19 October 2001]

I have watched the show and think is is quite funny. Who cares if she is gay in it. Will and Grace seems to get a lot of laughs on that premise. In fact it is one of the things the show is based on. No one seems to complain about the fact that the men in it are gay, and talk about it a lot! It's one of the best showns on tv. Now back to Ellen. I like it, I hope it finds an audience.

Ellen funny lady

[jeason0604 · 8 May 2005]

I think this show wasn't given near enough credit. It was a very funny show. It was also great to see Cloris Leachman on a weekly bases again. The rest of the cast had great chemistry and Ellen brought in some great guests from time to time, including Mary Tyler Moore in a Christmas episode which I still have on TIVO to this day. Also Betty White and Ed Asner. I was surprised when it stopped airing (I had not heard or read anything anywhere about it's being canceled. It just stopped airing one day.......).

I would like to see the 18 episodes that were produced released on one DVD set, so that those of us who enjoyed it can continue to enjoy it for years to come. (or at the very least allow us to view the 6 episodes that never aired.)

So you thought you had enough of Ellen. Here she is again.

[policy134 · 24 March 2005]

This show was very unappreciated in the U.S. according to some other commentators on this site. I can't really understand why. It's no better or worse than the original Ellen show. But like I also read, the show had mixed time slots, so it was hard to know when it was on. Here in Denmark 13 episodes was shown and I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't as funny as ELLEN but it had a nice setting. The character of Mr. Munn (played by Martin Mull) cracked me up, which was pretty much a revamp of his VP (no not vice-president) on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch). Cloris Leachman could get on my nerves but it's only because she hasn't much to work with playing a kook all the time. To have several of the cast members from the Mary Tyler Moore Show as guest stars including the woman herself was a bit pretentious but doesn't all shows have famous guest stars today? As for Ellen she is once again playing a version of herself. She is lesbian but it really isn't made into a topic on the show. She once had a boyfriend who now works as a teacher (the actor playing him could have been taken out of Frankenstein). She has a sister with a lot of nervous tics (I think she was dropped on the floor as a baby) and they all live in a storybook small town where everybody knows each other. What is wrong with that? Nothing, except it doesn't really spell sensational which the networks apparently demands every minute on TV now. So, it's no wonder this got canceled mid-season but I heard that Ellen has a very successful talk-show now, so her I doubt she will lose much sleep over it.

Good fun, shame CBS was so inept at promotion.

[JohnnyOldSoul · 23 June 2005]

"The Ellen Show" was hilarious, with a fun cast, good chemistry amongst the regulars, and situations that could only happen to Ellen.

CBS, as you've already read in the other comments, made little effort to promote this show, just sticking it in different spots thinking that it would magically find an audience. I'm a huge Ellen fan but could never find this show to watch! Fortunately I've now seen nearly every episode thanks to a mate in the UK and it really saddens me that this wonderful sitcom was never given its due. But, with Ellen's talk show doing so well and the DVDs of her earlier sitcom, Ellen, selling so well, perhaps "The Ellen Show" will one day see the light of day again!

Who could find this show on TV?

[swise3 · 26 March 2004]

If you could manage to catch the Ellen Show on TV it was really funny. Ellen always makes us laugh and Cloris Leachman is still a hoot decades after Mary Tyler Moore.

The reason this show failed is because A) the networks never promoted it and B) they could never decide on a day and time to broadcast it.

It was so damn annoying to try and figure out what day and time it was on! All my friends and family love Ellen and WANTED to watch this show but someone much more powerful obviously had other ideas. Sometimes it was aired twice a week on different days at different times and then it would disappear for a few weeks and magically reappear for 30 minutes and then just fade away again. If I were Ellen I'd be pretty darn angry about how my talent was treated...

I hope this comes out on DVD soon. I know several buyers. I noticed on Ebay that someone in England is selling all 18 eps on video. But I don't want video. Of course, what I really want is to know if her Mom really did have a cat... :)

This show will fail. Here's why.

[Mr. OpEd · 25 September 2001]

It's not that Ellen isn't funny. She is! It isn't that she's "that way." She is. And I couldn't even tell you if the show was well written or well directed. Why? Because the laughtrack drove me away. This has got to be the most obnoxious laughtrack since those used on Bewitched and its ilk where stirring coffee, combing one's hair, or raising an eyebrow were met with ROARS of laughter. Ellen! Stop. Fire whoever is responsible! The wife and I tried going back to the show a few times but didn't last but a minute before the toxic laughtrack drove us back like a smell that would not go away. Ellen, please visit Shepherd of the Hills church. Our pastor is FUNNY. No laughtrack. Listen in to me and my buddy. We're FUNNY. No laugh track (and when we'er not, there's no laughter). Or you just might remember being on stage. You're funny, the audience (a REAL audience) laughs. When you're not, silence.