9-13-10 "The VMAs, Antidepressants and Health Insurance"

In case you missed it...

THE VMAS, GAGA & CHER, AND JACKIE FAINTED!
Rosie began today's show talking about the Video Music Awards that were on last night!  Bobby, of course, said that Cher did fabulously!  Cher presented Lady Gaga with Video of the Year in her Turn Back Time outfit.  Rosie agreed that Cher looked kick-ass for her age.  Pete said something about how Cher's mouth didn't move when she was speaking because of all the plastic surgery she's had and Bobby and Rosie jumped all over him for it.  Rosie said that they wouldn't allow any Cher bashing on her show.  Rosie sang a bit of "Turn Back Time" doing her best Cher impression and Bobby talked about how excited he is to see Cher's new film Burlesque.

The Trailer for Burlesque

Speaking of movies, Rosie said she went to see The American this weekend.  She adores George Clooney but she said she didn't "get" the movie and said nothing happened in it. 

Back to the VMA's, Rosie and the crew discussed the song that Taylor Swift sang in regard to the whole Kanye West debacle that occurred at last year's VMA's.  Pete didn't get her song.  Rosie loved it and explained that the song was about forgiveness (of Kanye).  Rosie played a clip of the song.

2010 MTV Video Music Awards - More VMA Video

Taylor Swift's song Innocent at the 2010 VMAs

Rosie thought it was beautiful and mentioned how she read some awful comments about Taylor singing that song.  Rosie said the experience happened to her and she was forgiving him.  She really liked it.  Taylor performed in the middle of the show and Kanye closed the show.  However, Rosie did not love Kanye's performance.  She thought his song sucked and they played a clip of his song.  Rosie was mad that it wasn't a great performance because she's always defended what a great artist he was but she didn't appreciate the lyrics, "Let's have a toast for the douche-bags."

Rosie did love how one of her favorite artists Eminem opened the show.  She thought it was fantastic!  She's going to see him in concert tomorrow night!   Bobby didn't enjoy the host, Chelsea Handler.  He said he thought she was vulgar and classless.  Rosie said that's her thing to be vulgar but Bobby thought she could have made fun of people with a little class.  Pete didn't get Chelsea's humor either.  Best joke of the night by Chelsea?  When she introduced the Jersey Shore cast that was in the audience and the crowd cheered.  Then she told the artists that they shouldn't be applauding the Jersey Shore because they're the reason MTV won't play their videos!  SO TRUE!  I love it when comedians make me laugh by stating the obvious in a funny way.  Lindsay Lohan was in the opening skit with Chelsea Handler, her first performance since rehab, and both Rosie and Pete thought Li-Lo didn't look well and thought in general, the opening was weird.  In Chelsea's defense, Rosie said that hosting awards shows is a thankless job.  All the studio members commented on Lady Gaga's dress made of meat.  Bobby assured everyone that it was not fake meat, it was real meat!  Jeannie thought it was disgusting!  Rosie likes Gaga and her creativity and that she writes her own music.  Janette thought that a dress made of meat is very disrespectful to the animal and Bobby said it's just as bad as leather.  Jeannie wondered what would have happened if there was a dog in the studio!  They recalled how outrageous Cher's outfit that she wore in the Turn Back Time video once was and how interesting it was that Cher gave the award to Gaga.  Rosie wondered what Gaga's statement was supposed to be with the  meat dress and Pete read her statement.   Bobby understood that she feels as if she's being reduced to a piece of meat and thinks it's a free country and she can express herself the way she wants to.  Jeannie thought it was all "artsy mumbo jumbo." 

Rosie and Jeannie shared that their good friend Jackie fainted this weekend and possibly had a seizure!  She was taken to the hospital by ambulance.  Jackie has fainted one time before but she doesn't know why it is happening.  Bobby and Pete said she's fainting because she's too thin and needs donuts! 

ROSIE GOES BACK ON ANTIDEPRESSANTS AND THE STAFF SHARES THEIR EXPERIENCES
Rosie said that she's now back on antidepressants although she didn't say which one she was now taking.  She said that her eldest son Parker even noticed she was down lately.  Rosie's only been taking them a few days but said she's already noticed a difference.  Parker told Rosie that she just needs some sugar which is hard because she's dieting.  Bobby tried to get off antidepressants before September 11th (2001).  After the tragedy he felt like his emotions were spiraling out of control.  Rosie tried for two months to be off of them but said she felt like she was on an escalator down (emotionally).  She already feels a lot better than she did last week.  She listened to a replay of the show and even noticed the depressed sound of her own voice.  Jeannie said that she and Jackie could hear it in her voice too when they listened to the show.   Last night at dinner Rosie said she was laughing with Vivi and Blake and her friend and nanny Tanya, pointed out that she hadn't seen Rosie laugh in a while.  Rosie said she tried to explain to her kids what it feels like to have depression.  They mentioned to her the Cymbalta commercial and how depression hurts your whole family.  Rosie said she feels better that she nipped it in the bud when she did and that she's happy to have stopped the trajectory downward.  She said that it's not a "happy pill" but that it helps her get to "the surface" and feel normal. 

Jeannie shared with the listening audience her own experience with antidepressants.  She has been on them for about 6 months. She said after the first month she started to feel really good, like her old self again.  Over the past few years she said her depression was trauma induced because of what she was going through with her teenage daughter.  She said that looking back she sees how depressed she was but at the time, it was hard to see how much she was suffering because she was too depressed to see it.

Rosie said that when the Columbine High School Massacre happened in 1999 she couldn't stop crying and having irrational fears of people coming down the hallways shooting her children.  It was then that she went on antidepressants.  She had never felt the exhaustion that people who are depressed say that they feel.  However, during this latest episode with depression, she felt as if she couldn't get out of bed.  All she wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep.  She said she's feeling much better now.   

Janette's sister Lanette went off antidepressants and has stayed off them for a year now.  Janette explained that the experience has been "up and down" for her but she was having a lot of side effects when she was on them including pain and illness.

Pete was on antidepressants for five years and has been off of them for seven years.  He said he went off of them because he didn't like feeling controlled by a pill or needing a pill to be normal.  When he went off of them he's noticed that the depression is still there but he said the depression was there when he was on the medication too.  For Rosie, the comparison of being on them and not is like the difference between imagining there's a way to get through and thinking there is not.  Pete said that he still has dark days but he tells himself he's just not going to let them win. 

Janette tried antidepressants for a month and felt like she was "under water" when she was on them.  She went to see a therapist who prescribed them for her after only speaking to her for 15 minutes.  Janette felt like the therapist should have found out more about her before prescribing something for her and thinks she shouldn't have been given them in the first place. She agrees that some people need antidepressants and that they're useful.  Rosie and Bobby have both tried life without them and know that they won't go off them again.

Rosie took several callers to discuss their stories of antidepressants.  Rosie spoke to one caller who was frustrated because antidepressants trick you into thinking you don't need them anymore.  Then she said she will go off of them and feel like she's sliding back into a depression.  The caller was also on Effexor once.  Rosie said that Effexor didn't effect her sex drive but that Prozac did.  Rosie said that Parker asked Rosie what she is depressed about and Rosie explained that it's not situational, it's chemical.  The caller asked Rosie if she's going to stay on the radio when she goes back to television because the caller enjoys the intimacy that she gets with Rosie and the staff through the radio.  She started to cry and called Rosie a lifeline.  Rosie explained that the radio has been a lifeline for her too.  She had wondered whether or not she should talk about her depression and about going on antidepressants on the air and said that the response has been huge.  She briefly said that she was going to try to work something out with Sirius when she goes back to TV but that's all she said about it.

HEALTH INSURANCE, JEANNIE UPDATES US ON JAKE, AND HEALTH CARE REFORM
Janette said that she got her bill for her needle-biopsy procedure and she her insurance is only paying for $1700 of the $4000 bill.  She read an article that stated that insurance premiums are going up, copays are going up, etc.  Pete explained that each insurance company can set what they allow for the cost of any procedure.

Jeannie said that there is a little boy in her neighborhood who has been suffering from Leukemia since he was 4 years old.  He's now 8.  His only chance of survival was to receive a bone marrow transplant.  Her community had a bone marrow drive for Jake to bring people in and see if they were a match.  She said that hundreds of people came out in support.  Last Thursday, there was a big fundraiser for the family and the medical expenses associated with treating his illness.  Jeannie was at the fundraiser and said they had a turn-out of over 400 people!  Also, that night they announced that they found a perfect bone marrow match for Jake!  She said it wasn't someone from the community but an anonymous young girl who's being flown in specifically for the surgery.  Jeannie and Rosie are both registered bone marrow donors.  Jeannie said it was beautiful to be at the event.  She said it was so moving.  Rosie said that insurance has to be fixed so that you can't have an illness, have insurance and still be bankrupted by it.

Rosie took a call from a listener whose son had cancer.  She and her family have insurance but they have paid out more than $60,000 out of pocket.  She encouraged listeners to read the fine print of their insurance plans.  Rosie spoke to the caller for a while and wished them luck in their fight.  Rosie took another call from a listener who was pleased that Rosie was talking about bone marrow donation.  His only frustration was that the donors aren't allowed to know who they're donating to and whose life they are saving.  If you are interested in becoming a bone marrow donor you can find out more information on http://www.marrow.org/.

One caller said that supplemental insurance Aflac saved his family financially when his wife got breast cancer.  He recommended listeners should think about getting it if they can afford it. 

The staff briefly talked about Health Care Reform and what it does and doesn't cover. 

GAME
Brendan asked Rosie if she has ever done a voice-over.  She said she thinks she once did one for a car insurance commercial but she really couldn't remember.  She mentioned the time she was the voice of Terk for the Disney movie Tarzan.  She said Tarzan was on this weekend and her kids didn't believe it was her until she did the voice.  Rosie said that when she went to see Tarzan in the theaters Blake was really young and during the movie he stood up and yelled "That monkey is my mama!" 

Here's a clip from Tarzan!  Recognize the voice??

The game was to identify the celebrity voice of the commercial. 

ROUND ONE
Rosie - heard a clip of Ellen doing an American Express commercial.  She got it.
Pete - heard a clip of Kelsey Grammar doing a Disney commercial.  He didn't get it.  He was out and not happy about it.
Janette - heard a clip of Christian Slater doing a Panasonic commercial.  Everyone in the studio knew it except for Janette.  She was out. 
Jeannie - heard a clip of Morgan Freeman doing a Visa commercial.  She got it. 
caller (fellow Rosie friend Kristy!!!) - heard a clip of Susan Sarandon doing a Breast Cancer Research commercial.  She got it with a hint. 
Bobby - heard a clip of Catherine Zeta Jones doing a T-mobile commercial and he got it.

ROUND TWO
Rosie - heard a clip of Patrick Stewart doing a BMW commercial.  She got it.
Jeannie - heard a clip of Queen Latifah doing a Pizza Hut commercial.  She got it.
caller (KRISTY!) - heard a clip of James Earl Jones doing a Verizon commercial. She got it with a hint!  :) 
Bobby - heard a clip of Antonio Banderas doing a cold and flu commercial.  He didn't get it. 

ROUND THREE
Rosie - heard a clip of George Clooney doing a Budweiser commercial.  She got it.
Jeannie - heard a clip of Gene Hackman doing a Lowes commercial.  She didn't get it.
caller - heard a clip of John Goodman doing a Dunkin Donuts commercial.  She didn't get it.  But she did get prizes!!

Rosie WON and added a sticker for herself to the game tally board. 

As a group they chose to listen to the rest of the clips and keep guessing. 
The clips included...
Allison Janney doing a American Institutes of Architects commercial.
Kevin Spacey doing a Honda commercial.
Julia Roberts doing an AOL commercial. 

Shoshana, Pete and Rosie have one sticker on the board for the month which because of the vacation ends Friday! 

ANGRY BIRDS, PLAYING VIDEO GAMES AND THE 9/11 ANNIVERSARY
Rosie said that her Angry Birds obsession is annoying and she can't beat the latest level she's on.  Her daughter Vivi also plays and will ask Rosie to beat the level for her just so she can get to the next one.  Pete said you can go on YouTube and watch any angry birds level and see how to beat it.  Janette tried Angry Birds and hated it.  She said she thought it was so boring.  Brendan plays Angry Birds in the car (he doesn't drive) on the way to Sirius as a way to unwind after the radio show.

Rosie said that Pete and Tanya (Rosie's friend and nanny) have been kicking her ass in online Scrabble.  Pete said he's also whooping Tanya right now thanks to the words dextrose and paneling.  This made Pete giggle with glee and Rosie said she thinks Pete is getting geekier and geekier as the days go on.  Janette thinks there are more positive activities that one could be doing with their free time such as reading a book or the newspaper. She asked how many hours they have spent playing this game.  No one would tell and Bobby said that she wouldn't even want to know.  Janette only played it for two hours and thought that there goes two hours she'll never get back.  Rosie said she doesn't feel that way about video games but she does think that way after seeing a bad movie (there goes two hours she'll never get back).  

Rosie said that after all that media attention the jackass in Florida didn't burn the Quran.  She said all that talk and media attention was for nothing.  Janette said that the damage was already done even though the book was never even burned and said that some people were killed in demonstrations over it.   

Rosie asked how everyone remembered the anniversary of 9/11 on Saturday.  They all watched part of the coverage on the news on Saturday.  Bobby said he felt melancholy after seeing the coverage and talked about the lights they shone into the sky where the skyscrapers once stood.  Rosie talked about how Parker was only 5 years old at the time and he doesn't remember it.  Pete said that when his daughter turned 5 that there's no messing around now because she'll remember!  Janette remembers everything from childhood, Jeannie remembers all the way back to Kindergarten and Rosie remembers toilet training! 

Rosie closed the show. 

and that's what you missed -kw