Variety Shows

I watched Rosie's variety show on Wednesday night. Now I like Rosie, she does wonderful things for nyc school kids, but I thought it was pretty bad. Reviving variety shows might be a good idea, but not this way and not the Ed Sullivan model. The good variety shows of the past had talented people, but they also had good writing. SNL is the closest we have to a modern variety show and most of the times it is pretty bad. It's not the fault of the performers. When it is good it is because he scripts are good. Garry Moore had little talent other than being an announcer, yet he put together a great acting ensemble and he had great writers. Carol Burnett sprang from the Moore show. I'm sure she succeeded for the same reasons.