In the new comedy "Up All Night," Maya Rudolph plays a character that is getting recent attention. In the show, Ava (Rudolph) is a successful, but vulnerable talk show host. Reagan Brinkley (Christina Applegate) is the producer of Ava's show, and a new mom. Reagan and her stay-at-home husband, Chris (Will Arnett) are trying to join their once-young-partying selves with their new-exhausted-baby-centric selves. Ava is the overwhelming and needy friend who plays an entertaining and hilarious supporting role.
In the show, Applegate and Arnett have a very compatible and believable relationship. Their humor works well together--witty and realistic. Rudolph becomes Applegate's sidekick, she supports and complements her character without taking the spotlight...too much. On the other hand, on "Up All Night," Reagan is Ava's sidekick. As the producer, Reagan has to affirm and lift-up Ava constantly. She has to tackle all of the host's ambitious endeavors, as well as console her during very vulnerable times. Both on and off screen, the two are extremely successful partners.
"Up All Night" was created by Emily Spivey who also has worked on "Parks and Recreation" and "Saturday Night Live." The show has been a big success, often doing the best out of all of NBC's 8p.m. weeknight shows. It's entertaining, while still being relatable to any working mom, new parents, or people who just like to look at cute babies. But recently, it's been getting a bit of attention, specifically, Ava (or Rudolph's character of Ava).
For most its air-time, Rudolph has been defending her character as an unique person. The Chicago Tribune's reporter, Christopher Borrelli was determined to find out if this egotistical self-promoting daytime talk show host, was based off of the famous Oprah Winfrey. During the interview, many pointed questions about her similarity to Oprah were asked and Rudolph seemed to give pithy responses. Basically, after a question relating Rudolph's portrayal of Oprah on SNL and the way she plays Ava, she responds with, "I think everybody wants me to say yes, but she is a made-up character."
But in a phone interview with Borrelli, Spivey gives him a little more, "We wanted Ava to be her own thing, but, yes, sure, it is fair to say she is Oprah-esque."
Whether or not Ava is Oprah..."Up All Night" has given us yet another look into the different world of sitcoms that can be related and compared to our beloved talk shows. Even beyond the Ava-Oprah connection, we can look deeper into the relationship of another "Partner in Primetime."
Tomorrow starts Rosie O'Donnell's new show, The Rosie Show. Don't get it confused with her previous show that ended in 2002, The Rosie O'Donnell Show. If you lost track of her since that show ended, Rosie co-hosted The View for a short while and got into some controversial discussions.
Oprah Winfrey has given Rosie life a "part two" (in her words). The new OWN Network show will debut tomorrow (Monday) at 7pm. The new talk show will focus on a single topic for the entire hour, dealing with real every day issues like relationships, weight, and education.
I'm curious to see if she has sidekick or not. Who do you think would be the best sidekick for Rosie O'Donnell?
Actors turn singers, singers become producers, and musicians turn into talk show sidekicks. How do you feel about the constant crossover? People spend years perfecting their craft, and then here comes someone who is already successful that jumps right in and takes the spotlight. I'm seeing a trend...
But we'll just skip over Oprah because she has crossed over to every medium...I wouldn't be surprised if she introduced a new medium...but let's come back to recent book releases.
Last week Ellen DeGeneres released her third book, "Seriously... I'm Kidding."
It's a journey of Ellen's life. Her first book was published in 1995, titled, "My Point... And I Do Have One," and the second was published ten years later in 2005 and was titled, "The Funny Thing Is..." She has done so much work in television--currently "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" is its 9th season. The previous 8 seasons won 35 Daytime Emmy Awards...but clearly that's not enough. Ellen's first two books hit the New York Times Best Seller List, and the first one ("My Point... And I Do Have One") became No. 1.
Last November, Chelsea Handler signed with Grand Central Publishing for her own imprint, "Borderline Amazing/A Chelsea Handler Book." In May 2011, she released "Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me," where her friends and family tell the untruthful tales she spread throughout the years. It is one of the three books she is signed on to write for the imprint.
The second book with the imprint is in preliminary stages, but will apparently be written through the eyes of her dog, Chunk. And the third is currently undecided.
Hosts aren't the only ones who can write a book. Chelsea's very own sidekick, Chuy Bravo also released a book in one month after "Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang," in April 2010. In his first book, "Little Nuggets of Wisdom," Chuy gives tidbits of advice across many topics including friendship, food, family, and finances.
David Letterman's sidekick and musical director, Paul Shaffer wrote a memoir of his life in the music business, which was released it in October 2009 titled, "We'll Be Here For The Rest of Our Lives."
There are many more instances where television personalities have become authors on the side. As we've seen there has been a lot of crossover throughout the industry. How do you feel about that? Do you think it's fair that a book is awarded a very prestigious best selling award just because the author is successful already, while millions of people are trying to make a living waiting for a company to even purchase their material? Or do you believe if a person's talented, they have the right to do whatever they want?
What ever happened to letting fate handle things? Ok, fine. I guess Oprah Winfrey's sidekick and best friend, Gayle King has a hard time (probably no time) to just go out and pass her number around. So she wants to play the new dating game? Then play it fair, Gayle! While most people are now going to match.com or eharmony.com, a lot of rich people ask Patti Stanger to be "in the club."
But Gayle has to go to a Guinness Book of World Records holder (for match making) Orly Hadida. "She wants to find love, who cares how she gets it," you say. But the apparent issue now is, Miss Orly set Gayle up, but Gayle never held up her of the compensation deal. Not a big deal? It's $500,000 big. Orly the Matchmaker said she'd be totally cool with just guess-starring on Oprah...oh that's no big deal. Oprah doesn't have her guests booked months, maybe years, in advance or anything...It's so weird how they couldn't just through her on TV!
Either way, apparently nothing was set in writing. Now Gayle is man-less and getting sued. But at least she has one of the most powerful women on her side--I wouldn't be too worried.
