Ellen does Oprah

Did you see Ellen DeGeneres on the Oprah show?  Before I even get started, let me say, for the record, that I like Ellen.  Now I can get started.  First of all, she did not look so good.  Her new, boyish(er) haircut was trimmed above the ears, and someone should have told Ellen that her ears are pretty big.  Doesn't she have people?  I know that it's not nice to make fun of something people can't help about themselves, but I'm lamenting the haircut, not the ears.  She was funny and charming for the first half of the show when she and Oprah laughed about Ellen's quest and realization of the quest to appear on the cover of O.  Then Oprah asked her about what it felt like to have the Ellen Show cancelled, and I had a hard time sympathising at this point.  It hurt her feelings that after six years, her show was cancelled, and no one told her until her assistant did.  Probably because she is gay, she thinks.  (i am paraphrasing in this post, no direct quotes).  Really?  Because no one else's show has ever been cancelled before.  Everyone else gets treated so well by Hollywood executives.  And then she almost ran out of money.  She actually did say that.  Almost ran out of money.  And then there was this little sad face that she made. Personally I have almost run out of money about a million times. In fact, I am almost out of money right now.  I'm sure it's because I'm gay.  Come on, Ellen.  Then, after the cancellation, no one would pick up her talk show, or even call her back.  Probably because she's gay.  No one will call me back, either, or pick up my talk show.  Probably because I'm gay.  (fine, i don't have a talk show, but i'm sure it's because no one would call me back if i called them, because i'm gay.)  She talked about those hardships, and how she just learned that she had to be herself, and then she would be happy, and that's why she now has a beautiful wife and a successful television show.  Uhm, no.  It's because you are famous, and have whole boatload of money, and are even more famous now than you were before because you are gay.  Then we got to see some home video of Ellen and Portia's wedding, which was amazingly beautiful.  The bride was beautiful, the flowers were beautiful, the way they looked at each other was beautiful, and the helicopters hovering overhead taking pictures were beautiful.  I'm happy for you, Ellen, I really am, but I just can't feel sorry for you.  Please just stick to jokes.

Drop Dead Diva

Yeah, I know, Lifetime.  I know who watches that channel.  Fat old ladies who have a lot of cats.  And a few other people.  But mostly the ladies with the cats.  I can't even remember how I found this show, but I did, and here is what I think about it.  I think it is freaking awesome.  It stars Brooke Elliott who had been working on Brodway for several years before this show.  Brooke plays a woman who was a young, aspiring model who is killed in a car accident.  In death, she finds herself in heaven's admitting room, and refuses to accept that she has died.  She pushed the "RETURN" button, and returns.  But not as herself.  She returns as Jane Bingum, an overweight lawyer without much of a social life, who died at exactly the same time taking a bullet for her boss.  Suspend disbelief.  But it works.  Jane finds herself with the memories of her old self, and the brains of her new self.  She starts taking cases that the old Jane would not have bothered herself with, (as you would expect--slightly odd, off kilter, never going to win type of cases) and finds herself winning.  But her fiance from her old life works at her firm, and she loves him so much, and of course he thinks of her as good old Jane from the office, not knowing who she really is.  Two story lines, I guess.  The cases wrap themselves up neatly in each hour long episode, but the angsty love story continues throughout the season.  I know this sounds kind of lame, but the show really pulls it off.  Jane, despite her socially unacceptable extra weight, is really very pretty, and she has a compassion that doesn't seem contrived, even for Lifetime.  The show has managed to secure quite a few notable guest stars including Paula Abdul, Rosie O'Donnell, Tim Gunn, Jorja Fox, and Liza Minelli to name a few.  Margaret Cho is also a supporting cast member working as Jane's assistant, and even though she is toned down from her usual flamboyant self, she is still fun to watch.  Although she does spend a little too much time in pants that give her a camel toe, which in my opinion, is unfortunate.  It reminds me of that stupid movie, "Run, Lola, Run" where that girl wears those ugly, tight, green and white pants.  But I digress.  This show plays on your emotions a bit, but not too much, it has made me laugh out loud a few times, and more than once has made me cry a little bit. But the crying part might have something to do with me feeling sorry for myself, not attractive, NOT ATTRACTIVE!  I have even bookmarked the Lifetime website on my computer just to watch this show, but if you want to catch the whole season I recommend that you find it on Casttv.com.  No downloads, no sign-up, no payment. Just shared streaming video.  Don't take my word for it, watch it yourself.  Just don't tell anyone.