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[quote=Anonymous]This is not a defense of Ellen, who I don't really like, but I think some folks are missing key context.

Ellen because a daytime talk show host during this era when more female comedians were becoming high profile but there were fewer career opportunities for them because of sexism in both the stand-up world and in Hollywood. Ellen was a very successful standup, and then had a somewhat successful sitcom (not wildly successful, but not insta-cancelled). Women did not get considered for late night gigs, which was one path for someone like that. So Ellen (and Rosie O'Donell before her) were given daytime talk shows.

Stand-up comedy, especially back in the 90s when Ellen came up, can be incredibly mean. Think about how mean Seinfeld was, how mean Letterman could be. Translating that environment to a daytime talk show is actually pretty weird, and reflects the built in misogyny in this choice -- "Oh a funny woman -- normally we put funny people on at night to entertain adults, but this is a woman so we'll put her on at 3pm to entertain board housewives!" It reflects a lack of respect both for the performer AND for the audience for daytime television.

Comparing Ellen to Kelly Clarkson is weird because Kelly Clarkson got hired for the job because she has a likable, folksy persona that people seem to like, plus she has a long history on TV dating back to American Idol, so she's very familiar. Ellen was a very different deal, coming from a much harsher environment, and what people knew about her was that she had a mildly funny sitcom (very mildly) and was gay. The Ellen backlash was inevitable because she was never well suited to that environment. I honestly thing her show did as well as it did for no other reason that people really got into the dance segments at the beginning of each show, and daytime viewers tend to be very loyal -- once they make a show part of a routine, it sticks. That's less true now, though, with streaming.[/quote]

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