5-19-11 - The Oprah Farewell Spectacular and Open Phone Lines

In case you missed it....

ROSIE REMEMBERS THE OPRAH FAREWELL SPECTACULAR
Rosie started today's broadcast discussing her recent trip to Chicago where she performed in the Oprah Winfrey Farewell Spectacular at the United Center!!   The shows will air on Monday, May 23rd and Tuesday, May 24th.  Rosie was shocked with how the producers of the Oprah Show completely transformed the United Center immediately following a basketball game Monday night.  She said the stage looked better than any Academy Awards stage.  Rosie told no one she was going!  She had even spoke with Madonna a few days before trying to set up a time to have lunch with her and said nothing. Madonna didn't say anything to Rosie about going either and then they ran into each other there!  She said she got to Chicago Monday night and had rehearsal at 8:30 on Tuesday morning.  Rosie, Bobby and her publicist Cindi Berger sat and watched some of the performers rehearse.  Rosie said Kristin Chenoweth's performance of Because I Knew You featuring some of the men Oprah has helped in her lifetime completely slayed her. Rosie wouldn't go into great detail but she said she, Bobby and Cindi sobbed uncontrollably watching it.  Rosie said she was almost incapacitated by watching it so much so that she wasn't sure she could perform afterward!  She asked the producer to make sure she didn't have to follow her the night of the show and she did not. Rosie said DON'T MISS IT.

For Good from Wicked

Rosie said she was asked to perform a number with Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz and Nate Berkus for the night of the spectacular about two weeks beforehand.  She knew they all couldn't sing or dance but they would work it out.  She and Bobby recruited their Broadway Boys and they created and rehearsed a little number for the performance!  Rosie said the entire show was sponsored by Kleenex and it's a good thing because everyone in the audience cried!  There were 16,000 people there and 16,000 boxes of Kleenex underneath each seat.  Rosie said Oprah graciously hugged and thanked everyone after the event and Rosie said she started to cry when Oprah came up and hugged her. Rosie couldn't comprehend how someone could stand up there and take in all that love and appreciation and not completely break down.   Rosie said it felt like Oprah was being BOMBED by love.  Rosie even felt it and it wasn't even directed towards her!  Rosie said she felt like her heart was raw afterward.  But Rosie and Bobby were so impressed with Oprah and how she accepted all that love with such grace and dignity.  Her favorite moment was when Kristin sang but her second favorite moment was when Maya Angelou held Oprah's hand and read her a poem she wrote for her with Alicia Keys playing piano in the background!!!!  Rosie said she was honored to be a part of the night and she said it was a night she will never forget.

Rosie took some calls from listeners who were there too.  All the callers talked about how fabulous it was.  One caller's daughter was "an Oprah baby."  This caller loved Rosie's skit she did with the Oprah men. The caller remembered the moment when Oprah put her hand up and said, "It's too much."  Rosie said she totally understood that feeling when she was watching rehearsal.  Rosie said Oprah must have done some serious meditation before the evening in preparation to receive all that love.  

Rosie got to see Tom Cruise too!  She described the celebrities dressing rooms where in each room there was a poster-sized photo of the time you were on her show!  Bobby said the producers thought of every detail including amazing flowers in every dressing room and wonderful food.  Even the Target lounge was completely wall-papered in Target wallpaper with Target pillows and furniture!  Rosie joked that she almost killed Dr. Phil for ad-libbing during their scene because the orchestra was supposed to cue on his line!  Before they went on Rosie tried to give him advice to "go slow" and he said to her (with his strong southern accent), "This is not my first day at a rodeo."  Well, when he didn't deliver his line as was written the orchestra wasn't sure when to begin but she laughed and said they worked it out.    Bobby said the audience went wild when Rosie came out!!!!  He said she did such a great job covering up the mistake.

Rosie said she got home and read a review that called her "a svelte Rosie O'Donnell!" She said it made her cry and she has never been referred to in a review as "svelte" before in her life! She said she was so happy to read the word svelte she never even read the rest of the review!  She immediately told Bobby, her dresser, to buy lots of those Eileen Fisher pants she wore during the performance!  Bobby described the pants as a thin leg and said if she would have worn the heels he had brought for her she would have been even "svelter."  Rosie said she was too afraid to wear the heels because of the recent video of the models falling on the runway.  

Rosie took another call from a listener who was also at the United Center who said the Oprah Spectacular was truly SPECTACULAR!  She won her tickets through a lottery and said she cried from beginning to end. Rosie agreed and said she felt drained and depleted afterward because the night was absolutely overwhelming.  The caller told Rosie she looked very svelte and Rosie gave her a prize.  :)

JANETTE GETS HER OWN SHOW!!!
Rosie said they had really GOOD NEWS to share!!  Janette, Lou, James, Amanda and Deirdre will be doing a show on Sirius every Friday from 10-12!  They'll be airing "best of" shows Monday through Thursday during the regular Rosie Radio time and Fridays Janette and crew will be LIVE!  Janette thanked Sirius, Rosie, her friend Petra and the blogtourage for writing to Sirius for months on her behalf.  Rosie said Pete and Bobby are going to be working with her in Chicago.   There is already a JANETTE SHOW fanpage on Facebook!  Join it and keep in touch with Janette and all the staff members you've come to know and love!

MORE CALLERS 
Rosie took a call from a listener whose mother watched The Rosie O'Donnell Show every day during her cancer treatments.  She understood Rosie complimenting Oprah for all that she has done but she didn't want Rosie to discount all that she has done as well.  Rosie took another call from a listener in Chicago who was at the Oprah Farewell and was expecting when she saw Rosie to see a very heavy person because of the way Rosie talks about herself on air.  But when she saw her, she thought she looked very thin!  Rosie gave this caller a prize too and thanked her.

MORE ABOUT ROSIE'S NEW SHOW AND THE OPRAH SPECTACULAR
Rosie said she met with some of her new television staff while in Chicago and they all talked about how they want to uphold Oprah's star level with her show.  Oprah's mantra is "live your best life" and Rosie's said hers is "don't miss your life."  She said she's been starting to embrace how she looks now and accepting herself for her appearance.  She said she didn't worry at all about how she looked during the performance and that was a big step for her.

Rosie said they're going to do a segment called Show Me Chicago on her new show!  She said she would like people from Chicago to show her the sights!  She looked at a few apartments while she was out there and the realtor kept referring to how close the apartments were to the Magnificent Mile. Rosie thought to herself why does she need an apartment close to the Magnificent Mile?!  She told the realtor she needed an apartment near a Target!  And she and Bobby couldn't believe how big Lake Michigan is!   They both thought it looked like an ocean.  Rosie had never really been to Chicago for any extended period of time.  She looked at an apartment on Lake Shore Drive and was shocked to see a beach!  Rosie said everyone in Chicago has been lovely about her moving there.  And one person she met told her she should be glad she's coming in summer because February is hell.  Rosie said she's very excited and feels a little like she's going away to college because she doesn't know anyone there. Janette thinks this transition will be wonderful for Rosie and she's very excited for her!

JUDGEMENT DAY, DISCUSSING MARIA SHRIVER AND SCUMMY MEN
Pete gave the staff an update with how Judgment Day is this Saturday May 21st at 6pm!  Pete explained who came up with this idea and how he calculated the date.  The funny thing is, he predicted this would happen in 1996 and when it didn't he said his calculations were wrong!  Rosie wanted to know why this guy is getting so much attention.  Pete explained that the guy is fairly popular and even has his own radio syndicate that broadcasts all over the world.  He said people have quit their jobs in preparation for this!  One guy spent his $140,000 life savings on billboards!  Rosie wanted to know what happens when Judgment Day doesn't happen.  Pete said what happens is exactly what happened the last time.  They recalculate.  Deirdre said she read about a 32 year old woman who decided not to have a family because of this.  Pete said there is a large group of people looking forward to the rapture and they are are sure it will happen in this lifetime.

Rosie took a call from a listener who loved Rosie's sexy, raspy voice today.  He said with her sexy voice and and svelteness, she was morphing into Demi Moore!  He said it was like they were having phone sex and Rosie joked and asked him to describe what he was wearing.  lol  Anyway, the caller said this talk of Judgment Day is very amusing but it's also very sad.  He said when we give these people a pulpit to preach their beliefs it not only encourages them to continue saying these absurd things but it undermines religion as a whole.  Rosie said if this event happens on Saturday there's only 5 more months until the end of the world.  She asked everyone what they will do for their last 5 months.  Pete said he would be a soldier for Christ.  Rosie said she's still going to prepare for her OWN show because they'll be on the air for at least a good month before the world ends and she wants to produce a good show!  Janette said she would travel to the third world and Deirdre said she would go down to her father's house in Virginia who has the means to survive it!

One caller asked Rosie for an update about the time she met Charles Manson's son in an airport.  Rosie said she did some digging and pretty much found he wasn't telling the truth.  Janette and Deirdre were sure he was hitting on her!

Rosie wanted to discuss the Maria Shriver situation.  Rosie said she feels badly for the women in a situation where there is cheating because it seems like somehow they need to carry the shame.  When really the shame belongs to the man who did the cheating, not her.  Rosie said being a public person, this must be very hard to go through.  She said so many people were writing to her saying how shocked and horrified they were at what Arnold has done to his wife and family.  Rosie said when people do that with her it always feels intrusive and horrible.  But she felt the same way!  Rosie said she's met Maria and respects her a lot.  And when she saw her at the Oprah Farewell she wanted to give her a hug.  And Rosie said it's extra horrible that the woman worked in her house!  Janette said it's one thing when an affair happens in the heat of the moment but his affair seems ice-cold because of how long it's gone on.  Rosie wondered how he was able to keep it a secret in this day and age.  She said Arnold must have paid her off.  Pete said when they were discussing it while Rosie was gone, they got a phone call from a listener in California who said they heard when she didn't get the severance package she wanted she threatened to go public.  

Rosie quoted the Annie Lennox song The Gift and said, "Take this overcoat of shame, it never did belong to me."  And she asked, what's Maria's shame?  Was it believing her husband?  They referenced what Jane Seymour said that there will surely be more children/affairs coming out.   Rosie feels badly for Maria Shriver who probably did believe her husband and she wondered if he's a sociopath for being able to keep such a secret!  Bobby mentioned footage of Arnold groping a reporter. Janette wanted to know what's wrong with these men!!  And she mentioned the former head of the International Monetary Fund who was recently arrested for rape.  Apparently that guy was a serial cheater and allegedly abused women before.  Rosie could only compare the Arnold situation with her own nanny Tanya and her son who have really become part of her family.  She said Tanya's son is in the house so much he's part of the family!  She said the Shriver family must know the boy.  She wondered how Arnold could live with himself.

Rosie mentioned the new Shania Twain Show and how she talks about how her husband had an affair with her best friend.  Rosie took a call from a listener who was married to a serial cheater.  She said she knew he was cheating but it wasn't until he slept with another woman in their own bed that she finally decided she could no longer put up with him cheating on her.  Rosie said everyone has that line that cannot be crossed and you don't really know where it is until it happens to you.  She thanked her for calling in, sharing her story and hopes she's in a better place in her life now.

BOYCOTTING AMERICAN IDOL, HOARDING OR COUPONING AND SHOSHANA'S BIG DAY
Rosie wanted to know if any of the staffers watched American Idol last night because they're supposed to be boycotting it now that James Durbin got voted off.  And Bobby watched it!  Rosie pretended to fire him.  Instead of American Idol, they watched River Monsters where they told a story of a fish that crawled up a man's penis and ate it from the inside!  Rosie wasn't sure which show was worse now!

Rosie said she talked to Peter Walsh from Enough Already about the show Extreme Couponing and they both think Extreme Couponing is really hoarding.  Rosie said the people collecting coupons are obsessing, organizing, adding feverishly, and full of anxiety and panic!  And their houses are destroyed and looking like a Costco!  Pete said there are allegations of fraud connected to the show Extreme Couponing.  She said the people on the show shop for certain items that can be mistaken for other items because the UPC codes are similar.  One caller said the people on the coupon show are not normal.  She said her mother-in-law is just like that and takes her coupon collecting to a hoarding level too!  One caller doesn't think it's hoarding because the people would never be able to get rid of anything they bought if it was.  Rosie thought it might just be a different degree of hoarding.  One caller has been couponing her entire life and thinks the show is fraudulent.  She said she spends hours a week collecting coupons and in order to get the kind of savings they have you would have to be doing something fraudulent! The caller felt like what the people on the show were doing is cheating the system.  

Rosie said Shoshana had a big day yesterday!  Turns out her biggest celebrity crush, Mark Paul Gosselaar, was at the Sirius studios yesterday.   Janette said Shoshana came in beautifully dressed yesterday with full makeup and yet had the attention span of a gnat!  Janette said Shoshana is normally very focused but not yesterday!  Lou mentioned to Shoshana that he was going to be at the studios and it was a complete coincidence that they were there on the same day.  Or was it fate?!!  Shoshana said she walked around the halls of Sirius and then she found him!  Shoshana said Deirdre blew her cover and told him she never dresses up.  She also told him he had nothing to worry about because she was engaged!  Shoshana and Mark spoke very briefly because she didn't even know what she wanted to say to him, she just wanted to look at him and be in his presence!  Shoshana got to take a picture with him and she went to shake his hand to say thank you and he hugged her and said, "We're old friends!" Shoshana said it was amazing.  She didn't cry but she was really blotchy and shaking afterward.  Rosie was so happy for Shoshana even though if she passed Mark on the street she admitted she wouldn't know who he was.

OPEN PHONES
Rosie then took several calls from listeners.  The first caller was wondering if Rosie had heard that Seth MacFarlane is redoing the Flintstones.  Rosie had heard that and said she would be Betty in a minute, if he asked her.  Rosie pointed out that the Flintstones was, in a lot of ways, The Honeymooners in caveman days.

Rosie took another call from a listener taking a family vacation to New York with her Autistic son who is 11 years old.  She asked Rosie if she thought the noise in the city would bother her son.  Rosie said she did think it would bother him and she recommended she purchase him noise canceling headphones.  Rosie recommended the Broadway shows Wicked and Lion King for families.

One caller's son was also moving to Chicago this summer!  Rosie said she feels like a college kid again, moving to a place where she knows virtually no one.  She said she's excited to meet new people but she said she's bringing Tanya, Pete and Bobby with her so she won't be totally alone.  

One caller sang her a song!  She sang a version of the Rosie Radio theme song but as a goodbye... Rosie and Bobby loved it and Rosie gave her a prize as a thank you.  

A caller talked with Rosie about her neighbor who recently relapsed with alcohol.  It was really emotional for the caller and her friend is going to start an outpatient program again.  Rosie reassured the caller that relapse is part of recovery.  She said it's extremely disheartening but everyone needs to realize it's a disease.  

Rosie took a final call from a listener who said she used to despise Rosie until listening to her on the radio.  Now she doesn't miss a show!  Rosie asked her why she even listened to her on the radio if she despised her and the caller said she tuned in for curiosity's sake.  The caller said there's a side of Rosie people don't know.  And Rosie corrected her and said people don't remember.  Now the caller has gotten to listen to Rosie for hours and has learned how much she cares, how she loves so deeply, how extremely loyal she is.  The caller said she's really going to miss Rosie on the radio even though she hated her on The View.  Now she knows she's a human being and that she gives of herself so much. She said she didn't know that until she listened to her everyday on the radio.  Rosie said The View never had higher ratings until she was on.  She said before she came on The View they weren't talking about relevant things.  Rosie thanked the caller for admitting it, calling in and for giving her a second chance.

Rosie reminded listeners to tune in to THE JANETTE SHOW every Friday starting June 10th!!!!!! Congratulations, Janette!  I owe you so much.  I wouldn't be doing this blog if it weren't for you supporting me along the way.  I will never forget what you've done for me.    

And thanks, Randi, for the sweet phone call today, this blog is dedicated to you!
and that's what you missed - kw
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