Ellen Degeneres

[jaghetersimon]

She also struck me as a petty bitch so I'm not surprised. She's a loser.

[plush]

Wait, she's a member of WGA and is going to work so the tourists who planned their trip to LA can watch her show? That's the lamest excuse ever. How does she do it though since someone is supposed to write her stuff and they're on strike?

[amara]

The WGA responds.

We find it sad that Ellen spent an entire week crying and fighting for a dog that she gave away, yet she couldn't even stand by writers for more than one day - writers who have helped make her extremely successful.

Good. I'd laugh my ass off if there ends up being a boycott of her show. I know I wouldn't feel comfortable going on it.

[Deleted]

WGA statement on Ellen

Iggy could care less

[mrsbiederhoff]

From another board I frequent

If you cross the picket line and I have bad stories about you, I may just tell them

It seems that after depriving the world of her show for a whole day, Ellen Degeneres crossed the picket line and taped an episode of her talk show Tuesday:

I want to say I love my writers. I love them. In honor of them today, I’m not going to do a monologue. I support them and hope that they get everything they’re asking for. And I hope it works out soon.

In 2001, I spent eight months working in the writers room for Ellen’s second sitcom, The Ellen Show. The first joke I ever wrote that appeared on television was spoken by Ellen. When the show was canceled, I was among the people she hugged goodbye. And I don’t know how Ellen treats her current writers, but I can tell you about how she treated the previous batch:

Like shit.

People tend to be disappointed when I answer the “What was Ellen really like?” question by suggesting she must be a very talented actress to convince America she’s nice. We’d watch her in rehearsals, smiling and winning us over with her charm and comic timing. Then the director would yell cut, her face would fall, and she’d level a glare at the writers.

“Why do you keep writing these unfunny jokes?” she’d hiss.

Most actors, especially those who’ve worked in sitcoms before, understand that comedy writing is a process, that you seldom get it right the first time, that daily rewrites are just how it goes. But to Ellen, if a joke didn’t work, it was the writers’ fault — and it was not a failed attempt at humor so much as a personal insult to her. She let us know this is how she felt. Daily.

We saw her through her first time hosting the Emmies, and many of our writers penned that material. They wrote jokes for three versions of the show after the telecast kept getting postponed because of 9/11. Finally, it aired (opposite Game 7 of the World Series, no less) and Ellen did a great job with great material. The next day, staff and crew greeted her with a hearty round of applause. Did she thank the writers for their jokes, or at least their hard work? Here’s what I remember her saying: “I felt like I really reasserted myself in the industry last night.”

Later I heard she blamed the show’s cancellation on 9/11 delaying the premiere.

Does Ellen love her writers? She loved one, insisted he be hired. Then he gave her some jokes she didn’t like and she apparently wanted him gone. But now he was under contract and had to be a lame duck until his contract ran out. But he was a hack anyway — all he did after leaving was create The Osbournes.

Does Ellen love her writers? She frequently eviscerated the head writer and reportedly boasted of the changes she’d make in Season 2, starting with his firing. But he was a hack anyway — all he did after leaving was create Arrested Development and win two Emmies for writing, another for Best Comedy.

Does Ellen love her writers? She took to my friend J, put his jokes into her standup act, used his words to fill two full pages in her book, then promised him a job on her new show. When he met with a low-level producer, they said he didn’t have the right experience and Ellen pretended she couldn’t do anything to help, wished him good luck in his next pursuit.

Does Ellen love her writers? She says she does, and that’s why I feel the need to publish this post. I’m more inclined to believe the comment left on that article:

I have it on pretty good authority that Ellen has crossed the picket lines and tried to sneak by her writers who are out there currently unemployed to tape her shows. These are the writers that have won her Emmys and helped write the Oscars!!

So I’m disappointed in Ellen, but not surprised. Not given what I’ve seen from her with my own two eyes.

As for that dog nonsense she was on about the other week, she ripped us a new one for some joke about a cat falling out the window or something silly, giving us a big lecture about it. Then John Ritter guest starred and went off on a big ad-libbed monologue, tearily confessing to killing his dog by accidentally sitting on him on the toilet, smushing him to death. We were sure Ellen would be livid, but the joke came from a TV star, not her writers. Ellen couldn’t get enough, made him do three takes in front of the audience, gave us a glare as if to say, “Why can’t you write stuff like THAT?”

So if you watched the YouTube of her pleas to return the dog and laughed at her tears, you’re not a bad person. At least not for that.

dantobindantobin.com/blog/?p=3846

source

[twodollars]

amara said:

litzikohanovich said:

I am a former union organiser, so no more Ellen for me. For the most part, I liked her, but now, I will not watch anything she does. I will not bore anyone with a long discussion of my political feelings about workers rights, but on a personal level, how could she do this to people she works with on a daily basis, the people who give her the words that help to make her funny and successful? I hope I did not offend anyone, but I really believe that workers rights are the basis of human rights and someone who crosses a picket line...makes my blood boil.

I'm right there with you. She's a member of the WGA and she crossed the picket line. She's a scab, pure and simple. I'm done with her. And I wouldn't be surprised if this backfires on her when the strike is settled. If it bothers people like us, imagine how the WGA/SAG/DGA people are going to feel. She may have ended up fucking herself over badly.

Me three. She goes on the list with Mr. Sugar Tits.

This was a really dumb career move for her in my opinion. Her show depends on attracting stars to appear. Many of them may skip her show in the future. Also, I doubt she will be invited to host the Emmys or Oscars any time soon.

[plush]

She answers back.

“Ellen has not done anything in violation of the Writer’s Guild of America agreement, or the WGA’s internal ‘Strike Rules.’

Telepictures Productions, through its distributor Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, has contractual obligations to continue to deliver original programming to the 220 stations that carry the program.

We have asked Ellen to come back to work to fulfill her contractual Obligation, as host of the show, because without original programs the stations can move the show out of its time periods or ultimately hold the company in breach of contract. The company, in turn, expects Ellen not to breach her contract to host the show. We also wish to preserve the 135 jobs of the staff and the crew whose livelihoods depend on the show continuing. We regret the Writer’s Guild has chosen to strike and we wish for a quick resolution.

It is unfair and incorrect to compare The Ellen DeGeneres Show to late night shows such as Leno, Letterman and Conan, all of which are late night network owned and controlled programming. Ellen is a daytime talk show carried on a syndicated basis across individual television stations, no different than, and in direct competition with, Oprah, Rachel Ray, Phil, Live with Regis and Kelly, Martha, Tyra, Jerry, Maury, and Montel, all of which are in first run daytime syndication and are continuing in production.”

[Deleted]

plush said:

She answers back.

“Ellen has not done anything in violation of the Writer’s Guild of America agreement, or the WGA’s internal ‘Strike Rules.’

Ellen is a daytime talk show carried on a syndicated basis across individual television stations, no different than, and in direct competition with, Oprah, Rachel Ray, Phil, Live with Regis and Kelly, Martha, Tyra, Jerry, Maury, and Montel, all of which are in first run daytime syndication and are continuing in production.”

Good for her. For Ellen to be singled out (compared to all the other shows listed) seems a tad unfair, IMHO.


***runs back into hiding***

[plush]

Are the writers of the other daily talk shows on strike? She may have been singled out because her writers went on strike.

[berrybearie]

According to this:

only her show and CBS’ Dr. Phil employ writers that are under guild contracts.

DeGeneres and Warner Bros. will have to make up one original episode to TV stations after DeGeneres chose not to report to work on Monday.

Would she have a show to make up if she hadn't cancelled at least 1 during Iggygate?