4-18-11 - The OWN Upfronts, Soaps Canceled and an Interview With Nina Davenport

In case you missed it...

THE OWN UPFRONTS, WAITING FOR CHELSEA AND THE BOOK OF MORMON
Rosie and the staff started today's broadcast discussing how she was a bit congested from allergies.  Bobby lent her several of his cold remedies from his "go bag" and Rosie was already starting to feel a difference as the broadcast was beginning.  Rosie was happy to tell everyone about the upfronts she attended last week.  She described upfronts as "big parties the networks give for advertisers" to show them their fall lineups.  Bobby and Rosie put together a song and dance number with some "Broadway boys" when they premiered the Rosie show for the advertisers.  Oprah was shocked Rosie could sing and dance like she did!  There was also a big party afterward.  Rosie said it was a surreal, out of body experience for her to be hanging out with Oprah in such an intimate setting.  At one point in the evening Oprah got up and gave a speech about Rosie and she said it was hard for her to take in all the wonderful things Oprah had to say about her.  Rosie was very impressed at the beauty of the event like the OWN logo built by flowers and the wedding-like seating cards.   Rosie took pictures of it all, she was so impressed!  At the end of the evening they brought around tequila shots!  Sarah Ferguson who was sitting next to Rosie took their shots and poured them into a glass replacing the liquid with water.  So Rosie and Sarah shot water instead.  Rosie said she had a bit of a "Whose life is this anyway?" moment while she was looking around at the people she was hanging out with.  As the party was nearing its end someone snapped a picture of Rosie, Sarah Ferguson and Oprah.  Just ten minutes later as she was leaving someone handed her that picture (that was just taken) framed!  Rosie didn't even realize it as it was in a box and later Oprah tweeted her asking her why she didn't post the picture of them!  Rosie opened the box and there it was.  Rosie was so impressed with Oprah and how together she is right down to her Christian Louboutin shoes.  While at the upfronts Oprah put Rosie up at a hotel that was so swanky it had a heated toilet seat that did tricks! Rosie was afraid to hit the buttons but when she left the room Bobby, Laurie and Shoshana tried them all out. Bobby was laughing so hard and it made a mess. Comes with Skype too!

Rosie picked Chelsea up from the airport this weekend.  Chelsea was returning from a trip and Rosie and her other kids were escorted by an airport greeter to the gate where Chelsea's plane was to arrive.  Her flight was supposed to land at 5pm but Chelsea was no where to be found.  Rosie thought the plane was just late so she entertained herself by holding another passenger's baby while they waited.  As she was walking around with the baby she saw Chelsea waiting at a different gate!  Chelsea had been waiting for about 25 minutes for her!  The greeter who had led them to the wrong gate was very apologetic but it was scary for Rosie.  Janette told a hilarious story about waiting in a park on a park bench for someone who never showed up!  Janette got really peeved while she was waiting too!  Turns out the woman was sitting right near her on another bench and was just as annoyed! 

Rosie went to see Book of Mormon on Broadway this weekend and LOVED IT!  She said they're going to have one of the leads from the play on the show in the next few weeks.  At a recent dinner, Norman Lear had told Rosie how revelatory it is and how much he loved it.  Rosie was at the theater sitting in her seat before the show started and the house manager asked her if she wouldn't mind coming backstage because several of the cast members wanted to meet her.  She was happy to oblige but pointed out to the house manager that Norman Lear was sitting just down the aisle from her.  The house manager said she knew and that this was Mr. Lear's seventh time seeing it!  Rosie said it was a lovely show and unbelievably over the top.  She said several of the scenes stunned  the audience.  She called it jarringly poignant, scary, weird and then hysterical!  And now that Rosie's done with her Paul Rudd film festival she's begun a South Park festival so she can catch up on the series she completely missed.  Janette reminded Rosie not to miss Team America! 

THE END OF SOAPS, CALLERS WEIGH IN AND BIPOLAR DISORDER
Rosie was really sad to hear about the cancellation of All My Children and One Life To Live.  She said she couldn't really wrap her head around the news.  She remembered watching those shows with her grandmother growing up!  Rosie's Nana used to call them her "stories" and say, "It's time for my stories."   Rosie wondered if the fact that Oprah is leaving ABC if it's throwing them into a tizzy.  Janette said it really comes down to ratings and if there are no ratings, there's no show.  Rosie said a lot of people are unsettled by this news because their afternoon routines have been filled by ABC shows - All My Children at 1:00,  One Life To Live at 2:00, General Hospital at 3:00 and The Oprah Winfrey Show at 4:00.    Rosie was upset over the news.  Deirdre read ABC already has new shows to replace the soaps and one of them is another talk show similar to "The Talk" and "The View" called "The Chew."  Janette said her guess is that talk shows are cheaper to produce.

Rosie took several calls from listeners who are crushed by the news.  Rosie and several of the callers recalled their favorite moments over the years.  Pete said once these shows end there will only be four soaps left - General Hospital, The Bold and Beautiful, Young and Restless and Days of our Lives.  One caller thought the reason for the cancellations was that because viewers now prefer to get their drama from reality shows like The Jersey Shore and The Real Housewives.  Rosie asked if the ratings had been down for soap operas and Bobby wondered if Tivos count in ratings and thought the ratings might be so low because more women are working full time jobs.  Rosie recalled being home sick as a kid and having nothing to watch except soap operas during the day.  Rosie talked with a caller and said fans should create a website and keep the storylines of the show going.  She said they could each take turns writing the storyline for the day.  She said people on Twitter asked her to suggest to Oprah that OWN take over the soaps.  Rosie said that's not going to happen.
 
Rosie and the staff discussed how Catherine Zeta Jones was in the news this weekend because she's being treated for Bipolar II.  Rosie described the differences between bipolar and bipolar II.   The description of bipolar disorder immediately made everyone think of how Charlie Sheen has been acting.  Janette heard Sheen held a march for bipolar awareness in Toronto over the weekend.  Rosie discussed the treatments for bipolar and said she thinks it's very brave for Catherine to come out and talk about her battle.  She said having a celebrity discuss their own battle with the disease can help people realize it's an illness.  Janette said it also helps normalize it for other people suffering from the same thing.  Rosie recommended the books An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness and Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder.  Actually, after Rosie read "An Unquiet Mind" she was convinced she had bipolar!  Her therapist assured her she did not.  Janette talked about the over diagnoses of these disorders and Rosie agreed to some extent.  She said everyone wants a name for what they've got instead of just accepting their mood fluctuations are merely part of the human condition, which ain't easy. 

Rosie took a call from a truck driver who suffers from bipolar disorder but is too embarrassed to talk about it with others.  She said people will oftentimes think she's just crazy and want nothing to do with her.  She talked about the struggles she's faced with the disorder and the medications she's tried.  The caller told Rosie she was going to be sad when she goes off the air and Rosie said there's a chance they may simulcast her OWN television show on Sirius!  Rosie said she'd let listeners know as soon as she knows for sure.

Rosie took a few more callers about bipolar disorder.  One caller suffered terribly with a misdiagnosis of depression when she really was suffering from bipolar disorder.  The medication they gave her for depression threw her into a manic state.  She's on the right medication now though and is feeling really good.  Rosie and the staff discussed the genetic link with the disease too. Lastly, Rosie took a call from a listener whose daughter is 11 years old and suffers from bipolar disorder.  She was very happy when Catherine Zeta Jones came out with her news because it helps normalize it for her daughter.  Her daughter suffered from rages and extreme mood swings but is now on a cocktail of medications and doing much better at an alternative school.  Rosie thanked the caller for sharing her story.

WTF CHARLIE SHEEN, IS TRUMP RUNNING? AND WITHHOLDING CANCER TREATMENT
Rosie wanted to know how Charlie Sheen's tour is doing.  Pete said he's heard mixed reviews but he tries to pay no attention to it.  Pete has a friend who wants to go see Charlie perform but he doesn't understand the desire.  Rosie said it's hard for her to watch someone who so obviously has bipolar and not getting treatment for it.  

Rosie wanted to know if Donald Trump is really going to run for President or not.  She said if he's not, what's the point of all this?  Pete explained that Trump can't run for President and have an hour long show on a network or the same network would have to give as much time to every other potential candidate to be fair.  Bobby is sure he's not going to run and said Trump is doing all this for the press it brings.   

Rosie and the staff discussed a recent news story about a mother who withheld potentially life saving cancer treatment from her song with Autism, who eventually died.  The mother was then arrested and charged with attempted murder.  The staff discussed whether disabled children have rights and whether the mother should have the right to decide what treatments for their children.  Rosie felt compassion for the mother and said we have to walk in her shoes before we judge her for her decisions.  Janette said the child could have died even if he was given the chemotherapy.  Rosie took a call from a listener who was a nurse and witnessed a child with severe muscular dystrophy come into the hospital and suffer from terrible side effects from the leukemia treatment he underwent.  The child ended up dying anyway and the nurse wasn't sure the suffering the child underwent was worth it.  Rosie simply said imagine losing your child and then being charged in his death.  Imagine?  

NINA DAVENPORT

Rosie then introduced Nina Davenport who was in the studio to discuss her documentary Operation Filmmaker.   "Operation Filmmaker tells the story of how well-intentioned American filmmakers bend over backwards to help an aspiring film student in war-torn Iraq achieve his dream of working on a real Hollywood movie. But nothing goes as planned." [source: pbs.org/independentlens/operationfilmmaker]  Rosie said the documentary was "beyond compelling" and said she was "glued to the TV set" while she was watching it.  Rosie called it a tale of "do-gooders gone wrong."   Nina admitted when she began filming the documentary she didn't think it would turn out the way it did.  At first she thought it might be a boring story but she quickly realized there was great conflict between the young man from Iraq that they set out to help and his American benefactors.  Nina saw it as a metaphor for what was happening in the Iraq war, and really, for our entire involvement in the Mideast.  She said the United States bestows our "benevolent weapons" upon a country and then expects them to be grateful afterward. And then, we're shocked and surprised when they aren't!  She said the filmmakers were a bit naive to not think their plan through just like the U.S. was guilty of not thinking our plans of liberation for the Mideast all the way through.  



Rosie said it was a really fascinating story and she wondered what kinds of reactions Nina's received from the film. Nina said people have reacted to the moral quandary of the story exactly the way she had hoped.  She said she's received the complicated, mixed reaction she had hoped for.  Rosie and Nina discussed their love of documentaries and Nina said she has another documentary coming out on HBO next year entitled First Comes Love about having her baby.   Rosie said she can't wait to see it!

Rosie asked Nina about her favorite documentary films and Nina listed several including Grey Gardens, Sherman's March, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control and Nostalgia for the Light.

You can watch Operation Filmmaker on Amazon instant watch right now!  Rosie highly recommended it to her listeners and said it's worth viewing.  Rosie thanked Nina for coming in and said she was very moved by her compassion and commitment.  She said the film Operation Filmmaker was very insightful. 

GET YOUR TAX RECEIPT, PILLOW PETS NAME CHANGE AND RIO
Pete mentioned the website where you can see what your tax dollars pay for.  Pete found it very interesting but Rosie wasn't so sure.

Rosie said she went to the local street fair AGAIN this weekend and she said she's been to this same local fair so many times it's boring now.  She said it's always the same stuff. 

Rosie and her kids had an argument this weekend over Pillow Pets and why they changed their name to Puffy Pals.  She said they had a big fight over whether they were now different or if there was just a name change.   

And lastly, Rosie said she and the family saw Rio this weekend and she said it was fun!  But it cost them $87 on snacks alone!

Rosie said she's not doing so well on her diet and snuck two donuts this weekend.  And Jeannie was home sick today but hopes to be back in the studio tomorrow.

And Rosie closed the show. 

and that's what you missed - kw