Ellen (these friends of mine)

        Ellen big t.v gig was initially called "These Friends of mine" as Ellen Morgan. The pilot of the show was well received and the network and Ellen liked the show. The show was later renamed "Ellen"  when they realised that the show was focusing more and more about her character. The show was centered around the good hearted, endearing but clumsy book shop owner Ellen Morgan. The show enjoyed good rating for the first season but gradually dropped in rating until the Puppy episode.

        Back then, little would anyone guess that this show would make history. It's the first show with a gay as the lead. The show started hinting that Ellen Morgan was gay in September '96 in the start of the sitcom new season. Degeneres decided that she wanted the character to come out because she thought the show needed a direction to work on. Ellen:" I was in therapy at the time, I got in touch with my feelings of my pain, which I hadn't been in my entire life, I started realising what a huge source of pain that was for me for to constantly worry about, I finally decided to come out and it made sense for the character to come  out." (Ellen the Real Story (ERS)).  The hints at first were drawing curiousity and interest from audiences, however the curiousity died down and people were tired of being tease as it was dragging too long. Ellen:" We were maybe gonna do six shows and then come out, and that wasn't good because there was a Disney stock holders meeting going on at the time, and they wanted to make sure the stock didn't go down, so we had to wait, nobody would say that but I knew." (ERS).  The teasing were not intended to go on for that long, but ABC did not give them the OK to go ahead with the coming out episode so only and finally, in April '97 , the now famous Puppy episode was aired.

        It was a huge success. A record of 42 million people watched Ellen Morgan announced she's gay . The episode was filled with stars like Demi Moore, k d Lang, Oprah Winfrey, Laura Dern, Melissa Eherridge. It received rave reviews and earned 5 Emmys nominations winning one for writing ( the first for the sitcom ).

        However rating went down after the Puppy episode. Reasons? Lacked of promotions? warning labels like -- adult content, tv warning ? incompatible lead in show- "Drew Carey" ? too gay ? not gay enough? or just not funny enough? A combination of all perhaps. But undeniably, the biggest problem was the show was weak in writing , it's not very funny. So then why are people still watching it? ( it still drew a respectable number of audience ( about the same rating with Spin City, Spin city on the other hand was being renewed for another season on that rating ) despite of all those factors ) so what was it then that still draw the audience ?? The charming protrayal of Ellen Morgan by Ellen Degeneres. That's why. Ellen Morgan was still lovable, still endearing. However sadly, the show didn't match up.

        The finale of Ellen "A HollywoodTribute" ended with only 13 million viewership. It had a star studded cast as well. The  hour is certainly stocked with stars, among them Cindy Crawford, Helen Hunt, Julianna Margulies, Christine Lahti, Woody Harrelson, Phil Donahue, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen, Glenn Close, Jada Pinkett Smith, Diahann Carroll, Tim Conway .

        The show ended. It seem somehow tired, perhaps it had became too much of an issue or Degeneres was tired of the whole thing herself. The whole thing seem too heavy.  I mean the show had 5 great years ( not many can say that ), it had it fair share of funny moments and not to mention how this little television sitcom help to save lifes, change and broaden the perceptions of the world. She was and still is one of the most significant t.v character.

        Openly gay actor Patrick Bristow (the recurring bouncy redheaded gay "Peter" on "Ellen") told the "Southern Voice," "I think that if this season of 'Ellen' had been the first season -- if you erased the years before and started with this season -- I think it would have been hailed as brave and wonderful, and she would have been considered the latest complex comedy character on TV. But since it grew up and changed in front of the audience, that might have been one of the reasons some people pulled back. People don't like change."

Pictures of the show         The episode with Anne Heche

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