JanieJane96 Like many, I absolutely loved this show when it debuted. Rosie's sweet, energetic, and friendly personality won over viewers and lit up the screen. The set was bright, colorful, and cheerful. And her passion for things such as Broadway musicals, Barbara Streisand, and old TV shows made you love them too. I was in college at the time, and would watch this during summer breaks and before I went to class. It was the first show I watched every day. It was a refreshing antithesis to the Jerry Springer-type shows that were popular at the time.And then Rosie stopped being nice and started getting political. While I respect other people's beliefs, even if they differ from my own, Rosie had a decidedly lack of civility when she expressed them on her show. Following the Columbine incident, she could have used her bubbly personality to cheer people up and give them hope for a better world. Instead, she decided to use her show as her own anti-gun platform, even going so far as accosting Tom Selleck about the NRA in that infamous segment. I remember watching that interview as it aired, and had to change the channel mid-way because I couldn't watch it anymore. People didn't watch Rosie to hear political debates. They watched her to escape from the world. When Rosie lost sight of that, her show went downhill and lost viewers.Coincidentally or not, it was when she decided to come out as a lesbian that her opinionated side really began to surface and change the show for the worse. (The gun incident was just a taste of what was to come.) It kind of made me wonder whether her sweet personality at the show's start was all just for show. She kind of came off as superficial. Who was the "real" Rosie?

lyrischertenor Best talk show ever. Was very sad to see it go. There never will be one just like her. It was wholesome and not trashy or demeaning. I hope Rosie is doing well now. I also miss her magazine. Such hardship she faced. But we should be glad the show lasted as long as it did. Six years right? And SHE is the one who made the choice to end it. I believe she was offered a longer run but she had her family and all. What I really wish is that the episodes could be released on DVD or something. She was also the one talk show host (besides the Regis and Kelly show) to host Broadway acts. And have Broadway stars actually be guest! And she would just have ANYONE on that she wanted! Like Kate Mulgrew from Star Trek Voyager -- TWICE! And she would have people from shows from years past who she just wanted to get to know. And her crush on Tom Cruise and her love of Barbara Streisand were very cute. I MISS IT!

tommythegun This is probably the most insipid thing that's ever been on TV. I don't know who they are supposed to be appealing to. They stick America's favorite Doyenne of Dumpiness out there to push gooey smarm on the unfortunate viewer for half an hour (except when Rosie goes after something she DOESN'T like, like Tom Selleck, and out comes the bile). I think someone has to be seriously masochistic to actually watch this. I personally can't even stand Rosie doing that wobbly-lookin' chicken dance in commercials on NBC anymore.Seriously, I seriously think that this show's survival is either some trick of the devil or just because she's some sort of sacred cow to NBC's programmers. I really wonder who this show is supposed to appeal to. Someone staying at home during the afternoon, which eliminates most people with jobs. Poor people? I doubt they would get or be interested in Rosie's rosy and banal world. Independently wealthy people? Usually people that have already made their mark have better things to do than watch TV in the afternoon. Housewives? I guess this has to be it but I've really wondered how they can identify with her not-so-well-disguised... different lifestyle from them. You know what I mean. ;)Even Rosie's "good person" act is getting tired and definitely wearing thin. A double-edged sword that, as her worldview is apparently rather viciously absolutist and probably quite a few degrees from the mainstream. She's all nice and warm and sugary and likes things that are nice and warm and sugary but anything apart from that, like guns, Fight Club, or whatever and she hits the roof. She's sort of like an evil Miss Manners, or better yet, a socialist counterpart to Dr. Laura (sans the protesters, of course).I consider this show a one-woman equivalent of Regis and Kathy Lee, but even less scintillating or relevant. One can spend one's life more productively watching the Weather Channel or the Farm Report in the afternoon than this garbage. Even if you like this show, there's better things to do at 3 in the afternoon. Go out, do something big. Direct a movie, write a book, publish a website, start the Save the Children from Big Meanie Republicans Foundation, whatever, and maybe you could actually be a guest on the show.As for Rosie, well, I'm just waiting 20 years or so for the E! True Hollywood Story about her. I'm really curious as to what that's going to say about her in hindsight.

Mr. Tobar Not that there are many other daytime talk shows worth watching, but the Rosie O'Donnell Show is definitely one to avoid. Arguably the highlight of Rosie's entertainment value (over that of any person off the street) is her ability to sing the theme song of nearly all of the TV series that have ever been broadcast.The best that she can do in the way of entertainment is show off a skill that one can only gain through rigorous, almost religious TV viewing over an entire lifetime. Do we really need to spend our time watching someone's TV show, who is so entrenched in a television centered world view? It seems like a dangerous reinforcement of the repulsive contention that it is acceptable for people to sit in front of the TV as their sole pastime.No one should subject themselves to any demonstration of such a deeply ingrained acceptance of the idea that a normal lifetime is one that's spent largely parked in front of a box that displays moving pictures on its screen, as the Rosie O'Donnell Show seems to openly advocate.In engaging in such trivialization of a seriously mentally and physically debilitating lifestyle for Americans, the Show subtly glorifies a lifestyle that does not merit glorification.From a TV producer's standpoint, it makes perfect sense for the host of a show to openly advocate such television worship.Other shows, such as the Oprah Winfrey Show are more justifiable, as they advocate things such as reading books, exercising, and other concerns that are not so directly connected with television and the entertainment industry. True, there is marketing that's mixed in with the advocacy of almost anything, but almost anything is preferable to what amounts to advocacy of Couch Potatohood. Other daytime talk shows more actively advocate activities other than watching television.