Big day of premieres in Daytime Talk Show Land, and the good news is, they seem to really be freaking us out over here at PopWatch. First, Rachael Ray scared the bejeebus out of (and apparently brainwashed) Slezak, and now I’ve been forced to watch enjoyed myself an hour of The Megan Mullally Show, where the woman who played everyone’s favorite TV lush and abuser of illegal immigrants takes off the Chanel and strives to prove that there’s more to her than a squeaky voice and some unfortunate M&M commercials.
Now, look. I’m rooting for Megs, I really am — I loved her on Will & Grace and mostly just watch Saturday Night Live at this point to see how long Kristen Wiig can sustain her Karen impersonation. But there was a sad point during today’s premiere when I found myself wondering why Saturday Night Live was on in the middle of the afternoon, and what Megan was there to plug. Example: It took her less than 30 seconds to actually say, "What a great crowd!" Then we moved into a musical number featuring rewritten songs from Hair, came to an uncomfortable resting point on the sofa, and suddenly I found myself choking on my sandwich when first guest Will Ferrell appeared, clad only in blue underpants, and the two proceeded to tell a lovely story about the time they got a flat tire on their way home from wine country (in between telling each other how much they liked each other and attempting to pretend like every second of what they were doing hadn’t been planned within an inch of its life).
The rest of the show was a pastiche of space-fillers: A 10-year-oldkarate whiz came out to show off his (very impressive) skills, andMegan got stuck interviewing him from a sort of half-crouch, doing anadmirable job of not touching the kid as much as possible; JennyMcCarthy (???) brought in a flock of sheep (???) and pimped her newbook, then wandered into the audience to take not-at-all-stagedquestions from women about Megan’s likes and dislikes (which had theunfortunate side effect of making me wish Jenny McCarthy had a daytimetalk show). Next, Megan sat down with her mom in the audience and wasclearly about to do something touching and moving… but my phone rangand I had to do a 10-minute interview with Bob Weinstein, so I missedeverything that came after that. I didn’t get to un-mute the TV untilthe very end, when, inexplicably, this talk show that had existed forless than an hour launched into a clip reel of past episodes. Orsomething. I missed the intro, but it was, like, four minutes of Megsjuggling with Josh Radnor and joshing with Allison Janney, and I am so,so confused.
BTW, if you’re in charge of keeping track of these sorts of things, it was at 3:22 p.m. ET that The Megan Mullally Showofficially jumped the shark: Ferrell changed into a tux during thecommercial break and came back out to salute Megan with a rendition of"Wind Beneath My Wings," a nod to Bette Middler’s "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" farewell to Johnny Carson. I’m not surewhat I was supposed to make of this, except that I guess it’s okay tocancel Megan on Wednesday.
[Here's the thing: I think she's got potential. When she's justtossing off little quippy remarks, Mullally is funny. Her response toMcCarthy's gift of sheep: "I have a hatchback, so that'll work outwell." But dear God, woman, loosen it up! We are not in the Catskillsand you are not an elderly Jewish man! Also, you can't beat Rachael Rayin the perk category -- please find another objective to play!]
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I thought the same thing about Jenny McCarthy’s Q&A thing, that it couldn’t be good sign for Jenny to be able to upstage Megan so much so quickly. Sorry, Megan. I love you, but on sitcoms.
Were you expecting Ellen2? I can’t imagine she will be able to sustain the surreal hour you watched today. It almost makes me glad I work during the day.
Oooh, I tivo’d this, I hope it’s worth the watch.
OMG! That opening was hilarious! Did you catch Megan’s husband! I am pretty sure that was him, the guy who took his shirt off and danced around! That’s love!
Surreal indeed. I love Megan!
I like this show! I think She did great! She’s just her, you know, I can’t stand Rachel Rae, she’s Satin posing as a person. I hate Rachel Rae’s commercials “I just can’t say like this is my show and it’s on at this time, it’s not me, it’s not gonna work” It makes me sick how she TRIES to act like she’s humbble. And as for the giant ego that is ELLEN. I can’t stand her fake annyoing show. Stop the annoying dancing, it’s been 3 years, stop giving your guests stupid ellen merchandise, and she’s been doing the same comedy schtick her whole carreer. There’s just something about her that makes her seem like she thinks she’s soo great, I find it obnoxious, I love Meghan, and I like the more Variety format
Zachary,
I have two pieces of advice for you:
1). If you don’t like something on TV, change the channel and stop b!tching and moaning about how much you hate this, that or the other; It really is THAT simple.
2). Learn to spell people’s names if you’re going to talk about them. There is no “h” in Megan’s name and Rachel’s last name is “Ray” not “Rae”.
I was rather surprised, actually. Megan brings a fun energy to her show, especially during monotonous daytime tv, and I think she will be around for awhile. Oprah-Ellen-Phil-Soaps are all kind of turning into one giant show. At least she’s trying something different (for daytime).
I could do without Rachael Ray. Just doesn’t do it for me.
And Mario,
People do make ‘type-o’s and mistakes. Trust me, you are far from perfect.
I liked her on W&G, although it got a bit tired after a while. But I have never heard her say a single interesting or funny thing–I can’t imagine who would give this woman a talk show. When she subbed for Letterman (a fluke that she talks about endlessly) it was boring! Hopefully, this show will have a very short life on TV.
the reminds me of sharon osbourne’s talk show…it stinks. GO RACHAEL!
I feel like Megan wont be afraid to say what’s on her mind and I know Will Farrell would never go on another daytime talk show in his underwear. I’ll keep watching*
I watched both Megan and Rachel, I loved Megan’s show I will Tivo it, I will not watch Rachel again, Tony Danza was better than her
“Learn to spell people’s names if you’re going to talk about them.” It’s Rachael, not Rachel. Try not to say things in such a snotty way, especially if you’re going to ignore your own advice.
Reading through readers’ comments in the EW blog, I’ve discovered the place where grammar, punctuation, and spelling go to die.
Anyone else wondering what the asterisk after Tim’s comment means?
You people are all losers who have too much free time & watch too much TV. Go outside! Take a walk! Enjoy the leaves changing. Stop sitting there in front of the boob tube. And people wonder why America is so overweight. ugh.
I don’t know what the hell Sam was talking about down there in that post, but Megan is a genius, and she wasn’t at all boring when she subbed for Letterman-She was very funny and very entertaining. She has got tons and tons of talent. I say give her show a chance.
I like her very much. Lots of energy.
For Kendra: I’m with you, Babe. I know that I may be able to burn some fat watching TV while running on my treadmill, but that just can’t beat the kind of workout I get when I sit at my computer, like you do, and scold a bunch of complete strangers for not going outside and enjoying the leaves! And people wonder why Americans are considered obnoxious. UGH!!!!!!!
Okay, I know that this article was written THE DAY OF her premiere, but I love Megans show. She has a lot of talent and give her a break. I mean its her first talk show and everyone is just reading into everything within the first few episodes? It’ll get better. And as for the Ellen comment, Ellen’s show is the best. I mean, she wouldn’t win 3 years in a row for the Daytime Emmy for the Best Talk Show if it wasn’t good. Her show is NOT fake and she is very generous and very kind and doesn’t use wise cracks to cut down other people and its not really fake if you know the real Ellen DeGeneres. You obviously don’t. I’ve been a faithful viewer of both shows now ever since they started and hey, I just say, give them all a chance and stop complaining. They put a lot of hours into a talk show. I’d like to see ya’ll do one… at least Megan can get the A-list stars. However, she could of done better without that Jenny McCarthy, but like someone else said, if you don’t like it, then don’t watch it… Easy right? Give them a break, give them a chance, and my goodness, stop complaining.
Eventhough I was outraged to find they replaced Days of our lives with the Megan Mullally Show….I still tried on a few occassions to force myself to watch it….. I found myself feeling uncomfortable watching it, she is awful at pretending that she is listenening to her guests…. let alone interested. She laughs at the wrong times and too much. She makes off-the-cuff comments hoping that they relate to what the guest is saying. She appears to be sitting there constantly thinking about what to ask next, never unware of the answers to her own questions. It’s Horrible….asbolutley painful to watch.
I AGREE WITH THE OPENING COMMENT. She seems to be hiding behind her clothes. Every day she’s wearing tons of layers and those horrible glasses. She is such a beautiful woman….and her facial expressions are what really make her so appealing.
JUST BE YOURSELF, MEGS!!!! AND GET NEW PRODUCERS. Right away. They’re killing you with bad talent on the show everyday.
If I could use Ellen as a comparison….what made her show such a hit right away is that she is ridiculous. And it’s natural. It’s okay to be silly and do and say silly things constantly. It’s okay to be surprised, dismayed, saddened, or disgusted. The eyes and facial expressions are what helps her the most.
I WANT HER DO SO WELL. I had such high hopes. But alas, I can only stomach about 3 minutes. As soon as I see the blazer, with the scarf, with the vest, with the long sleeze shirt, with the bell bottomed pants, and the pointing at the band (who are they anyway!!!), I’m already off to find a re-run of W&G on Lifetime or the CW.
SOMEBODY HELP HER. I WANT HER TO STAY AROUND.
I really liked Megan on “Will and Grace”. She is such a beautiful and talented woman. I wonder if this is the right venue for her? So far I haven’t seen a really competently run show. I loved when Carol Burnett came on, but once again, Carol had to take over the show. I want her to do well and hope that the show goes in a better direction.
I’ve tried. I really do like Megan. She must go back to sitcoms where she shines like a diamond. Does anyone notice that her formidable lack of interviewing skills results in dead pauses, when she repeats filler comments (too funny,…too funny) while nervously fidgeting. Or worse, she engages in leg petting, hugging, flirting, and personal story referencing with the male guests, along with a generous smattering of “I’m single, are you single?” banter. I think somehow that the powers that be must have forgotten that the show could not and would not be able to coast on the “Karen” factor. If her character hosted the show it would be much better. Oh well. I miss Tony Danza.
SRSLY you guys that posted on the 18th, THE DAY it premiered are such freaks! it was her first day! give her a chance! and MEGAN is SOOOO much better than RACHEL RAY<—-spell it right lmao. MEGAN has so much talent she can do anything.srsly.ya know why? cuz she tries and does her best. stop B!TCHING and go do ur own thing and stop worring about other ppl. if you wanna go walk then GO WALK! Megan is doing an awesome job with her show. NUFF SAID B!TCHES! lmao.
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