Rosie O'Donnell is returning to TV, and she's hoping to bring back a mostly dead genre when she does. The former View moderator will host Rosie's Variety Show live from New York at 8 pm/ET on Nov. 26, the night before Thanksgiving, Variety reports. The special, airing on NBC, is said to be the frontrunner of a regular variety show hosted by O'Donnell, expected to launch in 2009.The one-hour event will feature celebrity appearances, musical appearances and comedy sketches. David Friedman (Last Comic Standing) joins O'Donnell as exec producer. O'Donnell, who hosted her own daytime talk show for six years before joining The View, is the most recent celeb to attempt reviving the variety format. Then-married Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey hosted a program for ABC in 2004, and Fox announced a deal for six episodes of a Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne-hosted show. Do you think Rosie can breathe new life into the format? — Adam BryantRelated:• Osbournes Make Like Osmonds with Variety Show
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Jul 19, 2007 01:06 AM ET
- by m roush
Being on the inside of a reality-competition show, as a judge for TV Guide Network’s America’s Next Producer, has one major disadvantage: As it’s happening, I’m only seeing half the show. When watching at home and seeing what went into the execution of each of these challenges, you may well come up with a different decision some weeks on who should stay and who should go. We on the judges’ panel only are able to see the final result and have to use that, as well as whatever info we glean from the Q&A on the stage, to make the tough call on who to send home.First elimination taping, and it’s a warm Friday afternoon in early May. The judges convene in a spartan green room. The regulars are myself and David Hill, the wonderfully outspoken CEO of Fox Sports. The guest judge is David Friedman, the boyish executive producer of NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly. (The name seems familiar, and I soon discover his father is renowned news executive Paul Fr...
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