''The Caroline Rhea Show'' is a short-lived American syndicated

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), ...

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

hosted by actress and comedian

Caroline Rhea Caroline Gilchrist Rhea (; born April 13, 1964) is a Canadian actress and stand-up comedian, who is best known for her role as Hilda Spellman on the ABC series ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch''. She has performed numerous comedy specials, including t ...

. It premiered on September 2, 2002, and ran until May 21, 2003. The show was regarded as the successor to ''

The Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on May 22, 2002. This talk sh ...

'';

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'' ...

selected Rhea, who had hosted the last few weeks of ''Rosie'', as her replacement.

Format

In many ways, ''The Caroline Rhea Show'' was similar to its predecessor ''

'' and the more successful ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

''; all three programs were daytime talk shows that were run like nighttime talk shows, with

monologue In theatre, a monologue (from el, μονόλογος, from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes a ...

s and house bands and celebrity (and sometimes non-celebrity) guests. Unlike O'Donnell's daytime show, on which audience members opened the shows by announcing the day's guests, announcer

Chip Zien Jerome Herbert "Chip" Zien (born March 20, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the lead role of the Baker in the original Broadway production of ''Into the Woods'' by Stephen Sondheim. He has appeared in all of the "Marvin ...

would begin episodes of ''The Caroline Rhea Show'' by saying, "Live from New York, it's ''The Caroline Rhea Show''! On today's show: ames of guests..Here's Caroline!" The first five words, "Live from New York, it's," mimicked the opening tagline to ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'', produced in the neighboring Studio 8-H. The show's intro song was

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

's "

Sweet Caroline "Sweet Caroline" is a song written and performed by American singer Neil Diamond and released in May 1969 as a single with the title "Sweet Caroline (Good Times Never Seemed So Good)". It was arranged by Charles Calello, and recorded at Americ ...

," and the audience would often sing along, vocalizing the three notes after the song's eponymous chorus and chanting "so good, so good" in response to "good times never seemed so good."

Production

Like its predecessor, ''The Caroline Rhea Show'' was taped in Studio 8-G at NBC's Rockefeller Center Studios in New York City. The show's house band was led by trumpeter

Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an award-winning American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album ''Impressions''. He was also nominated in ...

. Former

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

guitarist and musical collaborator

Carlos Alomar Carlos Alomar (born 7 May 1951) is a Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican guitarist. He is best known for his work with David Bowie from the mid-1970s to the early 2000s, having played on more Bowie albums than any musician other than pianist Mike Garso ...

was the musical director. Some stations that aired ''Rosie'' also aired ''Caroline Rhea'', but some (like

WABC-TV WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neighbor ...

in New York, which gave the former ''Rosie'' spot to ''

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 ...

'') aired the show in an undesirable late-night time slot. Most television markets that had aired the show replaced it with ''

'', which was offered by the syndicator of both Rhea's and O'Donnell's show,

Warner Bros. Television Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

Telepictures Telepictures (also known as Telepictures Productions; formerly known as Telepictures Distribution and Telepictures Corporation) is an American television show and filmmaking company, currently operating as a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Television S ...

division. (New York station

WLNY-TV WLNY-TV (channel 55) is an independent television station licensed to Riverhead, New York, United States, serving the New York City television market. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS flagship WCBS-TV (channel 2). Bot ...

, which was a secondary carrier of both series, added ''Ellen'' while WABC did not; it was instead given to

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

References

External links

* 2000s American television talk shows 2002 American television series debuts 2003 American television series endings English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series by Telepictures {{talk-tv-prog-stub