What the Hell happened to Ellens career?!?

[Ryan_Liam]

She came out as a lesbian on her tv show, was a novelty for a while an then just dissapeared, what happened?
Oh and is it true that Jodie foster being a lesbian an open secret in hollywood, why hasn't anyone spoken out?

[caveman]

Well, for some reason she seemed to forget all her material except the joke about how she's a lesbian and all.

However, her outing did make the wretch of a flick "Mr. Wrong" a hell of a lot funnier retroactively...

[Homebrew]

Every actor's career ebbs and flows. She had a show on CBS after she came out that I never saw because it was on CBS. Who watches CBS but geezers? ;)

I don't think her not having a TV show relates to her being a lesbian. Her on-stage stand-up career continues unabated.

[dragongirl]

I used to like Ellen. I didn't care if she was lesbian or not, at some point she just stopped being funny.

[Arnold Winkelried]

Originally posted by Ryan_Liam
Oh and is it true that Jodie foster being a lesbian an open secret in hollywood, why hasn't anyone spoken out?If no one has spoken out, how did you find out about it?

[racer72]

I think her career took a downturn after the commercial with the dog and never got any higher.

[bernse]

Originally posted by dragongirl
at some point she just stopped being funny.

BINGO

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Originally posted by dragongirl
I used to like Ellen. I didn't care if she was lesbian or not, at some point she just stopped being funny.


So, what you're saying is that, at one point, she was actually funny?

Gotcha.

[astro]

The confused crypto dyke resonance was part of her appeal (to me). Once she was out and got a bit strident the key ummm... confusticated niceness she had in her standup and on the show vanished and so did her appeal.

[Guinastasia]

I never found her funny to begin with. She seems like a perfectly nice, well-adjusted, polite individual.

She's just not funny.

[astro]

Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky
So, what you're saying is that, at one point, she was actually funny?

Gotcha.

Actually, some of her standup when she was really hitting her stride about 10-13 years ago or so on the talk shows, was quite good. She was a master of timing and quick comic twists with her setup and punchline timing. It was not eye wateringly funny the way some Richard Pryor stuff was (or Chris Rock now) but it was clean, amusing and quite enjoyable in small doses.

[hajario]

He show went from being sharp and funny to being preachy and over the top. Too bad because what she did was brave.

Haj

[I can't believe that's butter!]

It certainly went to Hell, didn't it?

I'll see the posters above and raise them that I never thought she was terribly funny to begin with.

[I can't believe that's butter!]

Or, what Guinastasia said....:p

[mnemosyne]

I never found her funny, either. I do think it was a brave thing to openly come out the way she did, but from that moment on, the small bit of humour on her show became overshadowed by the "Oh, did you hear? I'm GAY!" theme. It got annoying pretty quickly. I'm all for gay pride, but you don't really have to repeat it every 5 minutes for people to like you because of it.

[RickJay]

Ellen's standup was HILARIOUS. She was one of the best comedians in the business. It's easy to forget that, because it was a long time ago, and it's been drowned out by the TV show and her personal life and Anne "What Orientation Am I This Month?" Heche.

Like a lot of comedians, Ellen Degeneres has a pretty limited scope of appeal; there's only so much you can do when you basic skill is standup. If you don't get a good talk show your first sitcom is likely your last. Drew Carey was a terrific standup comedian and he's had two shows, and believe me, in six years you'll all be asking where the hell Drew Carey went. Roy Romano will suffer the same fate.

[elfkin477]

Originally posted by astro
Actually, some of her standup when she was really hitting her stride about 10-13 years ago or so on the talk shows, was quite good. She was a master of timing and quick comic twists with her setup and punchline timing. It was not eye wateringly funny the way some Richard Pryor stuff was (or Chris Rock now) but it was clean, amusing and quite enjoyable in small doses.

The bit she does about talking to God in the phone is a great example of how funny she can be.:D Or used to be, anyway.

I know some people in this thread have said that her coming out in her show wasn't the reason she lost the lime light, but I disagree. Instead of being a show about a bookstore owner, or whatever her job was, who happened to be gay, the "reenvisioned" the show to be about a woman who was gay. There's not a lot that's very funny about focusing solely on a character's sex life (though I guess people who like Sex And The City disagree)to the exclusion of most everything else, be the character, straight or gay, so it killed the show.

[Ryan_Liam]

So is jodie foster gay?

[I can't believe that's butter!]

Mind, it's a rumor, but I have read that she is.

[blowero]

Originally posted by Guinastasia
I never found her funny to begin with. She seems like a perfectly nice, well-adjusted, polite individual.

She's just not funny.
Well said. Her whole act was centered on the "low self-esteem" bit. It was funny for about 2 jokes, then it just kind of fell flat after awhile. Kind of the same thing as Louie Anderson trying to base a whole career on fat jokes. The lesbian thing is neither here nor there to me. I had stopped watching her show years before she came out.

[Guinastasia]

What I remember from seeing her do stand up on tv was her airline rants. About airline service. The size of bathrooms on planes, food, etc.

It was just....lame.

[World Eater]

I saw her years ago, (don't ask, it was free), and I she couldn't buy a laugh.

[SolGrundy]

Your mileage may vary, I guess. I've always thought she was funny. Funny on her stand-up specials, funny on talk shows, funny on SNL, and funny at Epcot center.

I agree with some of the other assessments, though: for a long time everything was focused on her being a lesbian instead of just being funny. (To be fair, her bit about not really being gay on SNL was pretty damn cool). As for her "comeback," you have to consider that it was the supporting/ensemble cast on "Ellen" that really made it popular, IMO. That's a lot harder to duplicate on a new show than if she had carried the whole thing herself.

[DaveRaver]

I have a feeling her career will be OK.

[Marley23]

I have a feeling her career will be OK.
And on that prophetic note, I'm locking this thread. Please open a new one if you'd like to discuss her career.