Vaudeville's Not Dead

I watched as much of the Rosie O'Donnell variety show as I could. Maybe Rosie figures you can do stuff that looks off the cuff, but what may charm in daytime feels amateurish in prime time. For some reason, the lighting on the stage was quite dark. Magicians use darkness when they don't want you to see something, and I guess Rosie understood she had something to hide.

I'd love to see the return of variety to prime time. But the show, as expected, tanked--and not simply because it was no good. That would mean it tanks in the second week. Beyond its genre, I think the problem was Rosie herself, a divisive and unpopular figure among many. So I ask the networks not to give up, just try it differently.