BAD TV: Rosie Live on NBC

Just when you think that TV isn't "the shithole" everyone says it is -- Rosie O'Donnell comes along and raises to bar of shitty television to a new level with a variety show special that she was hoping would become a weekly series. The variety show -- "Rosie Live" -- was NBC's gift to America on the night before Thanksgiving and let me assure you that this show was a bigger turkey than the NFL Detroit Lions game that CBS aired on Thanksgiving Day and you have got to be trying really hard to be shitter than the Detroit Lions.

I actually like Rosie O'Donnell -- which makes it hard for me to hate this variety special as much as I did -- but if you're thinking of trying to revive the variety show format -- don't present it like a shitty dinner theatre production of some tired ass Broadway play.

One of the problems that I found with "Rosie Live" was Rosie. All the guests on this show had to interact with Rosie in some way or another and the scripted interaction wasn't funny, it wasn't entertaining, and trust me when I say that not only was "Rosie Live" not enjoyable to watch -- it was gut-wrenching to see such talent wasted like this live on prime-time television.

The show started off with Liza Minelli and Rosie performing together and it was the first indication on how big of a train wreck this show was going to be. Liza's singing was all over the place and Rosie (I'll be gentle) of all of your talents -- singing is not one of your strong suits. Rosie -- you want to revive the variety show format -- you should of had Liza come out and perform her verison of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". Now that's entertainment!

And then there was Alec Baldwin -- who along with Conan O'Brian -- must have been on the show as a favor to the suits at NBC...why else would either of these two people have wasted their Wednesday night to do this show? Conan appears from being a closed door as a surprise guest only to get hit in the face with a pie -- now that's top-notch comedy that's going to bring the variety show format back (or cause the TV audience to search around the TV dial for something more entertaining -- like watching somebody's bowel being disected).

Rosie even had Clay Aiken pop up on the show with a scripted bit that was "gay" and the sad thing is that they meant for it to be just that. And why oh why Rosie did you waste so much time interacting with everyone when you could have better used the time to expose some of the talent that you had -- such as have Harry Connick, Jr. peform a song instead of appearing to promoting a CD or you could have even had Gloria Estefan sing a song by herself -- it would have improved the quality of your show.

I found it hard to watch "Rosie Live" all the way through -- but I did and judging by the ratings that the show recieved -- I was one of the few people who did....which means that there's a good chance that we'll never see "Rosie Live" again on NBC. Who said that TV executives were heartless? Not me.