ridiculous rating

Really Surprised!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres) is a talkative single gal in her early 30s. Her parents are desperate for her to find a man. In the first season, her friends include Anita Warrell (Maggie Wheeler), Holly (Holly Fulger), and roommate since college Adam Green (Arye Gross). She works at a bookstore where she's joined by illegal Canadian barista Joe Farrell (David Anthony Higgins). In the second season, she becomes the owner of the bookstore. The show adds lifelong friend Paige Clark (Joely Fisher) but loses Holly and Anita without a mention. Audrey Penney (Clea Lewis) is a recurring annoying acquaintance who joins the main cast. The third season opens with the arrival of Ellen's cousin Spence Kovak (Jeremy Piven) after getting kicked out of hospital residence for punching a patient. This is soon followed by Adam's departure.This mid-season replacement premiered a few months before Friends. In many ways, it drove on the same road as that successful show but on a different lane. The first season is four slightly-older friends trying to make their way. There is no real sexual tension between them although dating is a pervasive subject matter. The show keeps changing from season to season. I always felt that the show never found solid footing with the constant changing although it has some nice humor. There are many episodes of memorable comedic takes. There is also that one iconic TV moment.When she came out to Laura Dern (and the rest of the people at the airport), it consolidated the perception of instability in the show. In many ways, the moment is bigger than the show. They spent half the season joking about it before actually doing it. Ellen was struggling with some important real-life issues during that time. That episode came at the end of the fourth season and the show struggled to figure it out for one more season. There was a constant change in characters, lead actors, and even structure. In many ways, Ellen's personal journey colored the show and it could never maintain stability long enough to be competitive against shows like Friends.

It is hard to believe the idea and opportunity that was squandered by the producers of this show. The show started out wonderfully in 1993, entitled "These Friends of Mine." The show was witty and featured Ellen and her kooky friends that lived across the hall from her. (Doesn't this sound familiar?) They had the idea a full year before the premier of "Friends". When the show returned from hiatus, it was revamped, retitled, and focused on the main character, Ellen. While not as entertaining as the original version, the show coasted along with decent ratings and quite a few laughs. Somewhere between the shows infancy and maturity, something awful happened. The show took a complete right turn and started focusing on Ellen's lesbianism and gay lifestyle. While I hold nothing against Ellen DeGeneres for coming out, and celebrating the lifestyle she chooses to live, the American viewing public was simply not ready for that kind of focus. Viewers became alienated, and ratings plummeted. I feel that ABC was generous in leaving it on the air as long as they did. In the end, when the show was canceled, I felt that ABC unjustly took a lot of heat for not supporting what some deemed as a "ground-breaking show". On the contrary, ABC supported the show longer than any other show suffering from such poor ratings. In the end, it was the writers, and the lack of a viewing public that killed this show.

This was a pretty good show. Kind of like an updated I Love Lucy. It wasn't one of the best, but I can say that it's four year run, and was funny in a Just Shoot Me kind of way. The show started mediocre in it's first season. The second season was probably it's best, and the third was almost as good. The last season wasn't very good only because they sacrificed humor for the sake of sending their message, but I think ABC should've let Ellen on for another season to see if it shaped back up into a funny show, although, if it had stayed on and continued to not be funny, it may have lost a lot of it's supporters. It's amazing what this show was able what this show was able to do, and Will & Grace, which is one of the best shows on the air now, would obviously never even exist if it wasn't for it.

I hated ELLEN and am glad it's gone. I never ever liked Ellen Degeneres (her brother Vance is much funnier) because I found her form of comedy annoying. She is my least favorite comedian aside from Bob Sagat. The first few seasons of this show I just found very stupid and non-funny. When Ellen announced her lesbianism, it got worse. Let me make it clear that I do not mind that Ellen is gay, but I just hate how every joke in the entire show was about her being a lesbian. It was unbearable, and made the already bad show worse. I'm glad it's over and I can't believe it lasted as long as it did.