''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 comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series '' Star Search'' ...

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

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. 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 subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

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, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

and Alanis Morissette were the featured singers. Liza Minnelli and Gloria Estefan performed duets with O'Donnell. '' Lombard Twins'

tap danced. ''

Anti-gravity Anti-gravity (also known as non-gravitational field) is a hypothetical phenomenon of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or t ...

'' performed a spinning act. The special also included performances by Rosie's Broadway Kids and guest appearances by

Kathy Griffin Kathleen Mary Griffin (born November 4, 1960) is an American comedian and actress who has starred in television comedy specials and has released comedy albums. In 2007 and 2008, Griffin won Primetime Emmy Awards for her reality show '' Kathy ...

, Conan O'Brien,

Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress, comedienne, and singer. She is best known for her starring role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four ...

Harry Connick, Jr. Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 List of best-selling music artists i ...

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

Rachael Ray Rachael Domenica Ray (born August 25, 1968) is an American cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author. She hosts the syndicated daily talk and lifestyle program '' Rachael Ray'', and the Food Network series ''30 Minute Meals'' ...

and Alec Baldwin. 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, bu ...

''. (Cody's husband,

Hunter Foster Hunter Foster (born June 25, 1969) is an American musical theatre actor, singer, librettist, playwright and director. Career After touring in several shows and playing on Broadway, in 2001 he was cast in his breakthrough role of Bobby Strong i ...

, was in the original cast of ''Urinetown'' and was on the writing staff for ''Rosie Live''.)

Critical response

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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' critic

Mary McNamara Mary McNamara (born 1963) is an American journalist and television critic for the ''Los Angeles Times''. She won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. Biography McNamara moved from Baltimore to Westminster in elementary school. She graduated fro ...

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 company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' critic Matt Roush panned the show as "dead on arrival," while ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' 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." The program finished in third place in its time slot, ahead of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

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 (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and

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

US Nielsen ratings

Cancellation

Initial plans were to, if the show had been successful, use the special as a pilot episode 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 ''The Wayne Brady Show'' is an American variety show hosted by comedian Wayne Brady that aired in two separate forms. On August 8, 2001, ABC, for whom Brady had been working as a panelist on ''Whose Line Is It Anyway?'', launched the first ''Wa ...

'' in 2001, and the first on NBC since ''

Marie Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...

'' and the infamous ''

Pink Lady and Jeff ''Pink Lady'' is an American variety show that aired for five weeks on NBC in 1980, starring the Japanese musical duo of the same name. The show also is referred to by the title ''Pink Lady and Jeff'', referring to co-star Jeff Altman. The show w ...

'' in 1980. However, ''Rosie Live'' did not return due to poor ratings.

References

{{Reflist, 2 2000s American television specials Television pilots not picked up as a series 2000s American variety television series 2008 television specials American live television series English-language television shows Rosie O'Donnell