Main Cast: Ellen DeGeneres, Cloris Leachman, Emily Rutherfurd, Jim Gaffigan, Martin Mull
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 30 minutes
Plot
Three years after her controversial ABC sitcom left the airwaves, comedian Ellen DeGeneres is back on another network. In The Ellen Show, the eponymous star plays an attractive gay woman named Ellen Richmond. When her once-thriving dot.com company goes belly-up, Ellen skedaddles from New York and returns to her Norman Rockwell-style home town, moving in with her eternally judgmental mother Dot (Cloris Leachman) and her unlucky-in-love sister Catherine (Emily Rutherfurd). After a brief period of unemployment, Ellen goes to work as a guidance counselor at her former high school, under the aegis of her old principal Mr. Munn (Martin Mull). Here she works side by side with her one-time prom date Rusty (Jim Gaffigan), who still has a crush on her, notwithstanding Ellen's radically altered lifestyle. Originally packaged by Mike Ovitz's ATG Productions, Ellen was taken over by CBS when the Ovitz enterprise died on the vine. Slated to be shown on Fridays, the series finally debuted on Monday, September 24, 2001, where it failed to make a dent in the ratings despite the strong lead-in from Everybody Loves Raymond . ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
After coming out of the closet as a lesbian on her first sitcom, DeGeneres' character on The Ellen Show, Ellen Richmond, was also a lesbian, although the show did not focus as heavily on the character's sexuality as did the final season of her first sitcom.
Ellen Richmond decides to trade the stresses of her fast-track, big-city lifestyle for the slower pace of her quieter hometown, where she is known and loved. It remains to be seen, however, whether or not returning to her hometown, a fishbowl of a place, and her eccentric mother, Dot, and scatter-brained sister, Catherine, is the best course of action. At home, Ellen becomes reacquainted with her senior prom date, Rusty, who thinks they can pick up where they left off (which, since she's a lesbian, seems unlikely), and her befuddled high school teacher, Mr. Munn. Though worlds apart from the people who love her, Ellen begins to adjust to a very different way of life.
The Ellen Show consisted of 18 episodes, it was canceled mid-way through its first season. The final 5 episodes of the series were never aired, but are available on DVD.
