One and done: S.S. Rosie sinks like a stone

Rosie O'Donnell's "Rosie Live" is ... well, not among the living. What the star herself didn't do to kill it off, the network on Thursday mercifully finished.

The Rosie comeback to end all Rosie comebacks scored a fat 5 million viewers and was immediately kicked off the NBC schedule.

Joanne Ostrow:

"Bad jokes, over-the-hill performers, a few impressive dance/acrobatic/singing acts and too much Rosie. Really, it made us remember what a stellar job Carol Burnett did all those years–and how easy she made it look."

But wait, there's more.

James Poniewozik's great full-length review (in which words, contrary to the headline, did NOT fail him):

Like Knight Rider, Rosie Live bought so wholly into the idea of reviving an old format that it actively resisted rethinking it. So you had the careening guest appearance of an old-time stage star (in this case, Liza Minnelli). You had the smorgasbord of entertainment, ranging from R&B to Kathy Griffin (doing a head-scratching Nancy Grace impersonation) to tap dancing to an acrobatic performance that featured Segways and looked like it should star Gob Bluth. You had the skits, like Rosie as a cop talking to a sarcastic little girl—a blatant nod to the Carol Burnett show, where the girl would have been played by Vicki Lawrence and the sketch would have been funny. (Indeed, the show did an amazing job of completely draining the humor from normally funny people like Baldwin, Griffin and Conan O'Brien.)

And finally, Fark's review of the star's post-mortem of her own show:

"Rosie O'Donnell's blog: There will B no more variety show. It was still a thrill 4 me. I am happy 2 have had the opportunity. Wow, typing like that saved you 5 letters. I bet thats still more viewers than U had"