User reviews

Ellen was one of the most retooled series ever made, I think, and every change made the show worse. It was very funny in its first year, when it was called These Friends of Mine. Then some perfectly good cast members were swapped out, the premise changed, it became less ensemble style and more star driven, and it was weaker. When Arye Gross was subsequently swapped out for a grating Jeremy Piven, the show started getting very bad.

When Ellen came out as gay, my mom complained that it ruined the show, but for me, the show was already bad, and her coming out was just more poorly conceived retooling that ultimately made it worse. Although the actual coming out show was brilliant, the best episode of the series, and made me briefly believe that the show had finally turned around. But it hadn't, it just kept declining.

Fortunately Ellen moved on to her talk show host role, which fits her like a glove, so it's a story with a happy ending. But I wish they'd kept doing These Friends of Mine; that was a really good show.

This was actually a pretty funny show starring Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Morgan, a bookstore employee who tries to get by life in dealing with her various friends including redhead Paige, insecure photographer Adam, cousin Spence, coffee shop guy Joe Farrell and the critical Audrey.

Ellen was quite hilarious and quirky, keeping the show engaging and appealing. The acting was also pretty good and the writing material wasn't bad. I did enjoy the earlier seasons more versus the later season, when the plot lines dealt more with the actress' sexuality rather on the comedic material.

Grade B-

Ellen Morgan (Ellen DeGeneres) is a talkative single gal in her early 30s. Her parents are desperate for her to find a man. In the first season, her friends include Anita Warrell (Maggie Wheeler), Holly (Holly Fulger), and roommate since college Adam Green (Arye Gross). She works at a bookstore where she's joined by illegal Canadian barista Joe Farrell (David Anthony Higgins). In the second season, she becomes the owner of the bookstore. The show adds lifelong friend Paige Clark (Joely Fisher) but loses Holly and Anita without a mention. Audrey Penney (Clea Lewis) is a recurring annoying acquaintance who joins the main cast. The third season opens with the arrival of Ellen's cousin Spence Kovak (Jeremy Piven) after getting kicked out of hospital residence for punching a patient. This is soon followed by Adam's departure.

This mid-season replacement premiered a few months before Friends. In many ways, it drove on the same road as that successful show but on a different lane. The first season is four slightly-older friends trying to make their way. There is no real sexual tension between them although dating is a pervasive subject matter. The show keeps changing from season to season. I always felt that the show never found solid footing with the constant changing although it has some nice humor. There are many episodes of memorable comedic takes. There is also that one iconic TV moment.

When she came out to Laura Dern (and the rest of the people at the airport), it consolidated the perception of instability in the show. In many ways, the moment is bigger than the show. They spent half the season joking about it before actually doing it. Ellen was struggling with some important real-life issues during that time. That episode came at the end of the fourth season and the show struggled to figure it out for one more season. There was a constant change in characters, lead actors, and even structure. In many ways, Ellen's personal journey colored the show and it could never maintain stability long enough to be competitive against shows like Friends.

Ellen DeGeneres' "Ellen" showcased the versatility of one of the best comedians of the 90s. She exhibited the physical comedy of a modern day Lucille Ball, dry wit descended from Jack Benny, and jabbing one-liners like Rose Marie and Morey Amsterdam were whispering in her ears.

The supporting cast (especially Piven and Fisher) and guest stars played well off DeGeneres. When the writers finally got a handle on the cast the writing was priceless. They weren't afraid to drop in wry insights among the "jokes."

"Ellen" was a groundbreaking sitcom, and like most pioneering shows, it wasn't supported by a fearful network. It's unfortunate that Ellen's sexuality became the focus of the press and the show. Maybe if the show wasn't constantly trying to break free of network restrictions and fear the writers and actors could have taken "Ellen" into a strong finish. Instead it petered out. Nevertheless, catch any episodes you can on cable.

When I first started watching Ellen, I thought the first season was a new younger & more attractive LUCY. A lot of the early episodes I recall feature Ellen doing physical comedy & acting zany in a way which reminded me of LUCY. As a male, I actually found her attractive as a woman.

This continued for me into season 2 until I started to see her change into the leading up to the coming out episode. Leave it to me, even now I still find her attractive even though I know her wiring would have no interest in me. Of course, I would hope if I ever were to dream of romance with her, that she would be quieter when intimate.

I really think as the show evolved, that even though it was a great idea that she should come out on the show, I think the coming out caused the show to end due to the fact that once it was done, Ellen could not find her way back to the original sitcom premise of the show- entertainingly funny. When the show first started, that is where it was.

When it ended, too much ado with the fact that Ellen had changed, & the series lost it's comic edge. Ellen has gone on with a lot of other things since this show established her, & she does have a flair for comedy.

She has an intuition for what many audiences find funny & that continues to serve her well. I am not sure that her personal life is quite righted yet as she seemed to have some train-wrecks in her personal relationships since the series went off. To me, the first season is the best & the Ellen I got to know. Luckily she never got to know me as I would really creep her out. After all, not every man has ever found Ellen attractive, but for me she is.

On her daytime TV show, she even dances like I do - she fakes it well. By The Book this series introduced some serious talent to everyone. Ellen Degeneres best work was in this series, & her work in comedy clubs prior to doing this series.

I AM an Ellen DeGeneres fan. Currently watching on hulu. It was funny at first but then, just got boring. Now, I just feel like I'm watching the same episode over and over. We get it Ellen, you talk to much when you're trying to explain yourself out of a situation.

"Ellen" started out as a pleasant comedy made watchable by the funny and talented Ellen DeGeneres. It ended up a groundbreaking show with tons of humor and probably the best finale in TV history.

The first season of "Ellen," as stated above, was cute. The show was reworked so that in the second season, Ellen had a new group of friends, all of whom could hold their own with her (Joley Fisher, David Anthony Higgins, Jeremy Piven, and Clea Lewis' role was expanded). The show became much funnier and snappier. And in the fourth season, Ellen "came out" to a therapist (Oprah Winfrey) and admitted that the man she had fallen for was named Susan.

The hate mail was unbelievable -- even Winfrey received a ton of hate mail and was verbally attacked on her TV show for even appearing on this pivotal episode. There were also boycotts by groups including, as often mentioned on the show's jokes, the Baptists.

The network didn't laugh and canceled the show. When you think about series such as "Will & Grace," and "Modern Family" on the networks, and all the gay characters on shows like "Six Feet Under" on cable - wow, a lot of doors were opened by Ellen Morgan coming out.

Ellen DeGeneres is a unique talent, with deadpan delivery and a habit of talking nervously and trailing off mid-sentence which is very, very funny. She also has a decent knack for physical comedy. Surrounding herself with a great cast, well-developed characters and scriptwriters, the show was delightful.

In the finale, Ellen Morgan is interviewed as a living legend, and her life is shown going back to the 1920s and takes her up to the "big reveal" on her sitcom - which isn't what you think it's going to be. Hilarious, and so well done.

I don't know what kind of person Ellen is, except that she's an animal lover and has family support -- but everything she does, including her talk show, has an aura of warmth and high spirits. "Ellen" the sitcom was no exception, and if you didn't watch it when it was on the air, check it out. It's still very fresh.

It is hard to believe the idea and opportunity that was squandered by the producers of this show. The show started out wonderfully in 1993, entitled "These Friends of Mine." The show was witty and featured Ellen and her kooky friends that lived across the hall from her. (Doesn't this sound familiar?) They had the idea a full year before the premier of "Friends".

When the show returned from hiatus, it was revamped, retitled, and focused on the main character, Ellen. While not as entertaining as the original version, the show coasted along with decent ratings and quite a few laughs.

Somewhere between the shows infancy and maturity, something awful happened. The show took a complete right turn and started focusing on Ellen's lesbianism and gay lifestyle. While I hold nothing against Ellen DeGeneres for coming out, and celebrating the lifestyle she chooses to live, the American viewing public was simply not ready for that kind of focus. Viewers became alienated, and ratings plummeted. I feel that ABC was generous in leaving it on the air as long as they did.

In the end, when the show was canceled, I felt that ABC unjustly took a lot of heat for not supporting what some deemed as a "ground-breaking show". On the contrary, ABC supported the show longer than any other show suffering from such poor ratings. In the end, it was the writers, and the lack of a viewing public that killed this show.

This television show was "okay" but it became "Great" in Season 4 when "Ellen" came out. It was a groundbreaking moment. Ellen in real life came out as well and that help save my brothers life.

My brother was (and still is) one of the greatest person I know. I was glad he was "My brother". He watched my kids all the time and at times became a third parent. However I could tell he was sad and his health was declining fast.

Finally he told me that "He was gay" and if our "Family Knew" he was afraid we would shun him. As the year passed on he got help for a drinking and depression problem. He is still to this day doesn't drink. He told me also how "Cousins treated him" after he came out. I thought he was crazy (He was still drinking but not drunk at a family gathering) but later on I did hear them say "Things behind his back". My brother might of been a closeted gay man but he always saw the truth. Props to him.

Now as for this review "The Puppy Episode" is not only groundbreaking but FUNNY! In the show "Ellen" comes out and you can see "Ellen's" body language change. It was like she became the most beautiful butterfly. And this happened to my brother as well. He became "HIS AUTHENTIC SELF". Everyone that knows him has herd him say "If it wasn't for Ellen".

Ellen not only saved his life she saved everyone of us that love him!

Together with Seinfeld and Friends, it's another top American comedy show that we are viewing frequently in the U.K. recently. When I say "top", I mean "top notch". In the 70's and 80's I was used to switching off American comedies, but these 3 shows have made me reconsider my bias! I particularly like the way Ellen introduces so many irrelevancies into her dialogue, she kind of says what other people would only think but not dare say for fear of being boring. At some point in the series she declares herself to be gay, and while it obviously changes the direction of the show a little, it doesn't get heavy going about it and is still as funny as ever no matter what your tendencies. I love all the other characters too; the show was better for the entry of Audrey, Paige and cousin Adam - they each have their own very identifiable traits that enrich the plot. The cousin is particularly funny, especially in scenes together with Paige.

I loved and miss her show. What a fresh and interesting new comedy. Ellen helped open the eyes of America on gay issues, but did not dwell on it or shove it down our throats. It was down tactfully and with class. Her new talk show is good, but doesn't measure up to the freshness and originality of "Ellen" the sitcom. Anyone who has a problem with her coming out on the show, must be insecure with their own sexuality. She did it in a way that I allowed my kids to watch. It opened up discussions with my kids and made it easy and fun to discuss human sexuality with them. Ellen helped America drop their guard with the gay issues. She provided an excellent comedy that was appropriate for the entire family. Parents who can not talk about sexuality with their kids need help. We love you Ellen !

It has now been 20 years since "Ellen Morgan" and "Ellen Degeneres" came out of the closet and television and gay rights have never been the same.

It is hard to imagine that there were no regular leads in television shows where the lead character was gay. Most of the times gay characters were almost non existent. A gay man was always used as the "Comic relief" and lesbians were always shown as anything but human. That all changed when "Ellen" came out.

Ellen was pretty. She also well known. Her show was entering its fourth season when "Ellen Degneres" decided that "Ellen Morgan" would be coming out of the closet.

The show at the time had very small ratings. It wasn't a big hit for ABC but it did well enough. The show from the very beginning however was always in some sort creative turmoil. In fact when Season 4 started none of the original cast (Except Ellen) were still on the show.

Ellen Degeneres however was at the top of her game when she demanded that the ABC-Disney allow her to have "ellen" come-out. For months there was lots press being generated about this possible story-line. Finally after 9 months of headlines both "Ellen Degeneres" and "Ellen Morgan" came out and made history.

Now as for the episode that Ellen came out on it became an event. It was historic. The episode was the #1 rated show of the week and one of the most watched television episodes of the past 10 years! Now after 4 years on the air the show found its voice and direction however one year later the show was canceled. That's was sad. The last year the show was on the air was the shows best collections of episodes. It was focused and funny. ABC however failed to promote the show. They show failing in the ratings. Had ABC wanted the show to die! You can than Michael Eisner and Bob Iger for this.

Now after 20 years we can now look back at the show and see what a mess the shows first 3 seasons were but upon viewing these episodes now we can view them as the main character being on a closet and that makes those seasons funnier than when the originally aired when we had no idea of the characters sexuality. The shows however major growth was at the tail end of season 4 and continued until the show ended in season 5. "The Puppy Episode" went on to win "Ellen DeGeneres" and her show an Emmy for Best Writing. It also won a Peabody Award which is a rare accomplishment for a Network television show.

For a few years Ellen career took a hit, However she made the biggest come back in when "Finding Nemo" became a major box office hit. Ellen supplied the voice of Dory! That same year she started her talk which continues to be a major success today. In 2016 Ellen struck gold again when "Finding Dory" became the highest grossing animated film of all time.

It is nice to see that with the huge risk that she took she went on to become not only a role model but one the biggest stars in television history.

This show is so funny that even the laugh track is quiet.

I loved the first season when it still was called "These Friends Of Mine". Maggie Wheeler (Anita) and Holly Fulger (Holly) were marvellous and played with perfect timing. I think it was a really bad decision to drop them though Clea Lewis and Joely Fisher were quite funny too. With the changes made after the first episodes Ellen's character started to dominate everything and everybody but at least the scripts were still on top. Though I like Ellen DeGeneres a lot in my opinion soon it all got worse and worse. First, I totally dislike Jeremy Piven, so I was sorry to see Arye Gross leave the show. A gay person myself I got really annoyed when finally everything was built around Ellen's sexuality. I didn't watch it until the end since I'm not a fan of sitcoms without jokes.

I actually bumped into Ellen's episodes by chance while on You Tube. Nowadays, I hardly ever watch TV shows, let alone sitcoms. However, after I watched one of the episodes in season 5, I found myself laughing. So I decided to watch another one, then another and another, I just couldn't stop myself. I think that not just Ellen but the entire cast, are great performers and really convincing in their acting. Of course, we are talking about a sitcom and not Lawrence of Arabia here. I would love to watch more episodes but the series has been over for a while... what a pity. In my view, "Ellen" is one of the best sitcom I've ever seen in my life. Rest assure that if you want to have a good and genuine laugh you won't be disappointed.

This was one of the funniest shows I had ever seen until the last season. The characters were hilarious, the was an amazing chemistry between the whole cast, and the scripts were well written. In the last season, however, it went from being a show about Ellen and her friends, to a show about Ellen being gay, and *nothing* else! This not only took away from the show's dynamic, but it completely alienated almost all of her audience. I think it was a poor choice to focus only on her sexuality. I hope that her new CBS show is more like the first three years of her old one.

If there was ever a true American heroine it is Ellen. This great woman puts the c in courage, the d in dignity and the g in great. That she is a warm, wonderful human being and side-splittingly funny is just so much gravy. She and her great ensemble cast made every episode first class. Ellen's character was always so good-hearted, thats what I liked the most about her.

In my opinion, the show was a bit boring at the beginning. Just another comedy that tries to be funny. (this time with a book shop as setting)But after Ellen´s outing quite much has changed, the stories have become really intresting, and in general the show has turned to something special and unique now. The difficult (???) topic has been presented in a very sensitive way and besides the´ve tried to fight against all the silly prejudices which are in the heads of too many people.Furthermore I like that we can laugh with Ellen, not about her. (that´s quite unusual for gay characters on TV). I´m impressed of her honesty and strength to share a part of her private life with the public. ELLEN- YOU`RE GREAT!!! Of course,I love the rest of the cast as well (JOELY,CLEA,JEREMY,DAVID)They´re like everyone´s friends. They get on your nerves, tease you, know everything better - but nevertheless you can´t live without them. In the meantime, I must confess that I hardly can´t live without Ellen and fortunately, it´s back on German TV!

This was a pretty good show. Kind of like an updated I Love Lucy. It wasn't one of the best, but I can say that it's four year run, and was funny in a Just Shoot Me kind of way. The show started mediocre in it's first season. The second season was probably it's best, and the third was almost as good. The last season wasn't very good only because they sacrificed humor for the sake of sending their message, but I think ABC should've let Ellen on for another season to see if it shaped back up into a funny show, although, if it had stayed on and continued to not be funny, it may have lost a lot of it's supporters. It's amazing what this show was able what this show was able to do, and Will & Grace, which is one of the best shows on the air now, would obviously never even exist if it wasn't for it.

During most of its run, "Ellen" was set in a book store owned by the title character, and it was one of the funniest situation comedies to be produced for U.S. television. It had a variety of regular characters, each a well developed mix of comedy stereotype traits and realistic individual traits. The varied cast provided lots of opportunities for comedy plot twists.

Ellen's personal gift was humorously portraying the moments of mild embarrassment everyone experiences -- much of comedy is based on embarrassment, after all. But Ellen didn't stop with mild embarrassment. Instead of keeping quiet and hoping no one would notice her blunders, or hoping they'd forget, she tried to talk her way out of them. Of course, she was hopelessly inept at talking herself out of an embarrassing situation, and escalated each mild blush scene into a personal disaster for her, and hilarious comedy for viewers.

The show, to me, most resembled the old Lucille Ball comedies. But I had a hard time identifying with Lucy's setting in the distant past, which exists only in black and white television and the nostalgia-clouded memories of people older than I am. Ellen, by contrast, was set in a familiar approximation of the modern world, which is funnier to me because it's a world I understand.

In its final season, the show changed its focus from comedy to civil rights. It started out almost as funny as before, but the civil rights message quickly crowded out the comedy. I applaud her political message, but by neglecting the comedy Ellen DeGeneres effectively cancelled her own show, and any chance she had of using it as a political soapbox. I and others watched the show because it was funny, and in the final season in the hopes that it would become funny again. I didn't want to watch her pitch a civil rights message I had accepted years earlier.

Perhaps it's difficult to deliver a message, while still entertaining, but it can be done. Most "Home Improvement" episodes contain a family moral of some sort, but never at the expense of the humor. Giving a choice between presenting a moral and making people laugh, "Home Improvement" went for the laugh, although it didn't go for the laughs to the point of presenting (for lack of a better term) an anti-moral. Given the same choice, "Ellen" usually chose the civil rights moral instead, and the comedy lost. It's possible to make a comedy with a gay star and lead character, and deliver Ellen's civil rights position, but comedy has to come first for the show to succeed.

One exception to the badness of the final season was the farewell episode. It set aside the efforts to deliver a civil rights message, and tried to be funny again. It demonstrated that Ellen had not lost her comedic gift, but had instead set it aside in favor of her political interests.

A now-moot question to ABC: Why were there viewer discretion notices before the show? It had less adult content (sexual or other) than almost any other shows then on television. The only shows of that time period I knew of with less adult content were "Simpsons", "King of the Hill", and "Home Improvement". Occasional scenes of women kissing women don't need a viewer discretion warning. Or if they do, almost all of ABC's surviving series need even stronger warnings.

While ABC deserves mockery for its stupid viewer discretion warnings, it deserves no blame for cancelling the show -- it had become a low-rated, unfunny comedy, for which Ellen DeGeneres deserves most of the blame. Still, before the final season, "Ellen" was comedy genius.

I didn't rate it because I have no idea how to rate this series.

Season 1 was pretty solid, and my personal favorite. The style was close to Friends', and it was pretty fun. Anita and Holly and Adam were all fun and ordinary nice people. They're like your best friends - fun and nice and when you're together you just have these sort of silly funny moments. It wasn't as good as Friends, and also a bit inferior to the first few seasons of How I met your mother, but it was quite good. A 7 or an 8.

The following seasons had a different gang, and it really seemed that they tried to be funny simply by giving all the characters some rare and annoying qualities. After a few episodes, it really gets boring watching Audrey's weirdness and Spence's bipolar disorder. But they did this for the entire length of the show's existence, which gradually dropped the show from 7 to 4. I think 7 was when Adam was still on the show, and 4 was towards the end of season 4.

Season 5 was a complete disaster. I have nothing against gay people. And I'm okay with Ellen DeGeneres' decision, even though it was a bit inconsistent since her character was perfectly straight in the first few seasons. But the show just became super boring and annoying when everything had to revolve around Ellen's sexuality. I get it that LGBT equality is important to you, but nobody's watching a comedy to get educated about civil rights. Seriously, Ellen, your show did not get cancelled because you came out. It got cancelled because it was boring and annoying. I hate to be mean but it really became a 1 or a 2 at the end of the show.

I hated ELLEN and am glad it's gone. I never ever liked Ellen Degeneres (her brother Vance is much funnier) because I found her form of comedy annoying. She is my least favorite comedian aside from Bob Sagat. The first few seasons of this show I just found very stupid and non-funny. When Ellen announced her lesbianism, it got worse. Let me make it clear that I do not mind that Ellen is gay, but I just hate how every joke in the entire show was about her being a lesbian. It was unbearable, and made the already bad show worse. I'm glad it's over and I can't believe it lasted as long as it did.