NBC, in their infinite wisdom, decided to try and resurrect the variety show format in a doomed ploy to attract viewers on Thanksgiving Day. It didn't work. According to Nielson, fewer than 5 million watched the show, and most of them threw up during the first commercial break.
To host the program NBC picked Rosie O'Donnell, one of the most disliked celebrities in America, and then (apparently) blindly selected a random array of the worst flop acts for her to preside over. Ed Sullivan, the master of the variety show, had enough sense to stand back and let the entertainers entertain, but egomaniac Rosie simply would not get off the stage, so viewers were treated to a large blob coated in black Spandex orbiting nearly every act and performer.
The show was so bad that it may make television history. "Rosie Live" may enter the realm of unsolved mysteries, along with the fate of Amelia Earhart and the design team of the pyramids. Here are a few of the comments from just one review page on the web:
"I'm still in the shower getting this show off of me."
"I thought it was illegal to commit suicide on TV."
"Please, next time just show us footage of puppies being thrown into a wood-chipper."
"Rosie Live" was the perfect Thanksgiving TV special - a real turkey, indeed."
"I did not watch this show, and that was not an accident."
"If by "variety" you mean a variety of things that sucked, then yes - this was a variety show."
"It's taken three decades, but I've finally found something worse than the Star Wars Holiday Special."
"Worst. Show. Ever. Really. They haven't invented a word yet to describe something this awful."
"Rosie O'Donnell couldn't carry Carol Burnett's mop water."
"If I want to want to watch a fat angry animal I can watch Animal Kingdom."
"She makes Bill O'Reilly (FOX News) seems sane."
"The only thing the show proved was that you can, in fact, put lipstick on a pig."
"It was like waterboarding with commercials."
