Ellen Degeneres

[Deleted]

Portia is at the center of this Iggy mess. She was one doing the emailing and I can imagine her reading that last one and running to Ellen crying about how those horrible people are going to make the hairdresser give the dog back. Then the hairdresser acts stupid and lazy about the situation when all she had to do was fill out a few forms and answer a few questions and probably cried to Ellen that she had to give the dog back too.

Ellen might have gone off and gotten all emotional without even having the facts. Since she's the public figure with the media influence it's her responsibility to get the facts straight before talking shit about someone on national t.v. Guess she has a reactionary passive kind of personality. Too bad she won't ever kick the leeches out of her life.

[Ladybug]

Ellen's back to work after standing in solidarity for ~one whole day~ with the writers. Way to support those writers, Ellen!

Her excuses, "it's sweeps week!" and "people traveled here!" are so damn lame. There's nothing else to do in all of Los Angeles but go to the Ellen taping? Yeah, right. She didn't want to sacrifice any of her sweeps ratings.

[Deleted]

Got nervous when I saw her thread bump up. I was afraid she adopted another dog.

[polygal]

ladybug said:

Ellen's back to work after standing in solidarity for ~one whole day~ with the writers. Way to support those writers, Ellen!

Her excuses, "it's sweeps week!" and "people traveled here!" are so damn lame. There's nothing else to do in all of Los Angeles but go to the Ellen taping? Yeah, right. She didn't want to sacrifice any of her sweeps ratings.

I don't think that's fair. She was the only big name daytime host that came out in favor of the strike and went dark for any length of time, while Oprah, The View, and Regis ignored the issue all together and kept taping. Daytime didn't present the same united front as the late night shows, which puts her in a tough spot.

[Ginger]

Good point, PolyGal, but the content of Ellen's show is more like a late night show than it is like a daytime talk show. Ellen does a joke monologue and skits, which is the work of a lot of writers. Oprah and The View more have researchers and assistants, but what they say is mostly extemporaneous.

It should be interesting to see how funny Ellen still is if it's just her with no help.

[Binky]

I kinda thought Ellen was a member of the WGA - guess not. I agree that she should show solidarity - her show is basically Leno/Letterman in the morning. Also, she used to be an actress so she has a very different relationship to the issue than a typical talk show host.

[amara]

To me, it's simple. If she has WGA people on her staff, her show should be shut down. Same with The View, Oprah, etc. Does anyone know which shows use WGA staff?

I do think we're going to be faced with more people breaking with the WGA though. I wouldn't be surprised if Letterman and Leno were on in another couple weeks. Wasn't Dave on during the strike of '88?

[diablocody]

I'm surprised she cares more about the visiting tourists coming to see her show than the friggin' WGA. It's a gutsy move no matter how you feel about it.

[scarlet]

diablocody said:

I'm surprised she cares more about the visiting tourists coming to see her show than the friggin' WGA. It's a gutsy move no matter how you feel about it.

Yeah, I'm no Ellen fan, but she's in a bit of a no win situation. She's done pretty well for herself being a fan favorite (to the point of knowing what buttons to push with them re: Iggygate), so she gains their favor with her "the show must go on" attitude. But, in light of a lot of the other shows going dark, she doesn't seem like as much of a team player.

I don't know. I hate this fucking strike, that's all I know--and all I'm losing is some tv time.

[Mutagen]

The NY Post's usual restrained, evenhanded take on the matter. Take with a grain of salt, obviously.