"Less
evil and more glamour for daytime!" Ellen Degeneres
declared in the premiere episode of her new talk show on September
8th, and while the show doesn't exactly bring on the glamour (Degeneres
is in her customary casual wear), it may help fight evil--if it
succeeds.
Blending
stand-up comedy, celebrity interviews, clips of Ellen interacting
with unsuspecting strangers, and her trademark ramblings full
of random and self-deprecating comments, The Ellen Denegeres
Show is laugh-out-loud funny in some moments, and charmingly
quirky in others. The first episode included a conversation with
Jennifer Aniston, a visit from an 85-year-old cake decorator,
and a performance by Macy Gray; celebrities like Justin Timberlake,
Betty White, and Megan Mullaly are scheduled to make appearances
later in the week.
Whether
she's introducing the cue-card guy or thumb-wrestling Jennifer
Anniston, Degeneres' seems very much at ease with the audience
and the talk show format in general. She puts her wide-eyed, kid-at-Disneyland
persona to good use throughout, drawing viewers in by sharing
her excitement about even the most minute details.
In
the weeks leading up to its
launch, Ellen's talk show has been compared frequently to Rosie
O'Donnell's, since both women have an approachable, everywoman-appeal,
and they're both lesbians.
But
Rosie O'Donnell didn't come out as a lesbian until well after
her show was established, and that's a crucial difference. Although
Degeneres' sexuality didn't even warrant a mention in the premiere
episode, and isn't likely to be discussed much on the show, there
is almost no one in America who isn't aware that Ellen
is gay after her very public coming-out in 1997.
Which
means ratings for The Ellen Degeneres Show (which plays
at various times on NBC affiliates around the country) will be
not just a reflection of Ellen's current popularity, but of middle-America's
comfort with lesbianism, as well.
Six
years ago, when Ellen Degeneres and her sitcom character
came out, middle-America was clearly not comfortable
with it. Her sitcom was canceled as its ratings fell, and when
her personal life came apart shortly afterwards, Ellen retreated
from the public eye to regroup. In 2001 she played a lesbian
again in another sitcom, which also failed (it didn't help that
the latter just wasn't funny). She received critical reviews
for her performance as the host of the post-9/11 Emmy's that
year, but that wasn't quite enough to restore her career to
its former luster.
Ellen
finally began to make a serious come-back in 2003, however,
as she began a sold-out nationwide comedy tour (which became
an HBO special) and served as the voice for a comical, memory-impaired
fish in the animated film Finding Nemo, which became
one of the highest-grossing films of all time.
This
success helped Ellen finally ink a deal to create her own talk
show.
Some
critics believed the first sitcom suffered
its ratings decline because it was "too gay," and Ellen
appears to have learned from that. She has made it abundantly
clear in interviews that she isn't going to incorporate topics
and issues related to gay culture or gay rights into the show,
at least not deliberately. She seems to be swinging too far in
the opposite direction, though, actively avoiding the subject
even when it makes sense to mention it.
If
Britney Spears were on her show this week, for example, would
Ellen ask her about her televised kiss
with Madonna at last week's Video Music Awards? A heterosexual
host probably would, since the kiss has been dominating the news
for days. When
Megan Mullally is on the show on September 11th, will Ellen ask
Mullally about her kiss with Madonna last season, or
about the fact that both Mullally
and her character on Will &
Grace are bisexual (sort-of)?
Because
Degeneres is sensitive about not wanting her show to get labeled
as a "gay talk show" (and the fact that she's a lesbian
is already a strike against her), it is understandable why she
might avoid topics like these, especially in the beginning. But
perhaps as the show wears on and she's proven to the audience
(and herself) that she's more than her sexual orientation, Ellen
will relax and find a compromise that doesn't require her to actively
seek out gay topics, but doesn't mean she ignores than when they're
relevant, either.
If
the show is successful, however, it
won't matter much if Ellen doesn't mention her girlfriend or say
the word "lesbian" on the show. Her daily presence in
America's living room will challenge public conceptions and stereotypes
about lesbians, as well as the notion that you can't make it in
entertainment as an out lesbian.
Of
course, Ellen's success doesn't mean the need for better lesbian
visibility will be over, or that lesbians will suddenly start
appearing all over TV and film. And it doesn't mean every out
lesbian in Hollywood who has had doors slammed in her face will
suddenly be successful (succeeding in show business is still more
about who you know than anything else, and one of Ellen's advantages
is that she knows a lot of people in high places, and almost all
of them like her).
But
the success of the show will mean that one
more barrier has been broken for lesbian entertainers, and that
American viewers feel just a little more comfortable with lesbianism
than they did before--even if we still have a long way to go.
And
if the show fails? Then we'll be forced to conclude that Ellen
was right--there's still too much evil in daytime. At least for
now.
