Quelle surprise, Ellen DeGeneres is ending her show. She will complete the current season and then the 2021-22 season will be her last. Meaning, we’ll have one full year of “Ellen’s last season” stories and programming. While Ellen’s show was groundbreaking at the time and the show enjoyed historic popularity for daytime programming, Ellen has largely been phoning it in for years now. I tend to think she got really burnt out but the money was too good for her to just walk away. Then everything fell apart last year, during the show’s hiatus, when former staffers came forward to describe the toxic environment Ellen and her producers have fostered over the years, including inter-office bullying, harassment and a lot more. There was a moment for her to end the show last year. But I guess she wanted to “come back” and now she’s bored with it.
Ellen DeGeneres is signing off. Daytime’s most recognizable face has decided her upcoming season, the show’s nineteenth, will be the last. The decision, which fell to DeGeneres, is said to have been several years in the making. She informed her staff May 11, and will sit down with longtime pal and daytime predecessor Oprah Winfrey to discuss the news on Ellen‘s May 13 show.
“When you’re a creative person, you constantly need to be challenged – and as great as this show is, and as fun as it is, it’s just not a challenge anymore,” DeGeneres tells The Hollywood Reporter, discussing the move publicly for the first time.
Timing her departure is something DeGeneres has openly wrestled with in the past. In a 2018 New York Times profile, she revealed that her actress wife, Portia de Rossi, had been encouraging her to move on from the 180-shows-a-year gig, while her comedian brother, along with executives at Warner Bros., had urged her to continue. In the end, DeGeneres signed on for three more seasons, but was clear with herself and her team that this contract — which would take her well beyond 3,000 shows, and a stunning 2,400 celebrity interviews — would be her last.
“Although all good things must come to an end, you still have hope that truly great things never will,” says Warner Bros.’ Unscripted TV President Mike Darnell, who as recently as late April was still prodding DeGeneres to reconsider. He calls her eponymous series “an absolute phenomenon,” having established itself over nearly two decades on air “as the premiere destination for both superstars and incredible heartfelt human-interest stories.”
“It’s just not a challenge anymore.” Yeah, again, she’s been burnt out for a while. Part of that was just the daily and weekly grind of having to be happy, funny and upbeat for whatever it was – 40 weeks out of the year. Instead of getting out while the getting was good, she just began to phone it in and cash the checks. Plus, I still believe that Ellen is probably really mad at her staff for going behind her back and telling the world that she’s a horrible boss. Like, there’s probably an element of “I’m going to end the show so all of these people will be unemployed” spite in this decision.
dakota johnson has done more for society by ending ellen degeneres than most of your faves have in their careers and it shows
pic.twitter.com/KVslhRUfi0— hi hi, nicole !! (@canaryfilmss) May 12, 2021
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Well, ain’t that good news! I haven’t liked her for some time. Just look at her pals to know what kind of person she is. She is def a mean girl who is past her expiration date.
I’m convinced she stopped the show because she knew she was being watched and she couldn’t treat everyone like utter shit anymore. Studios are afraid of lawsuits and she really WOULD be watched now.
I have been hearing about how badly she treats her staff and how unbelievably mean this woman is for a looong time. The first time I heard about her, I had no idea who she was, lol. I was at my son’s first preschool party and half the mom’s worked there AND THE STORIES. (He’s now 19!) Living in Hollywood with friends in crew and production, etc. you hear things, and all I have ever heard about this one is bad. And she LOVES dating and turning the women she dates into facsimiles of herself. (Watch how they dress changes after they date her-Anne Heche just mentioned it) I know this from someone she dated. oh, and I know another crew member who says she pushes everyone she works for into tears to see how far she can push you. And when she does it, she has a look of sheer pleasure on her face. She enjoys making people cry. I could not make this stuff up, she’s beyond parody awful.
That great tea, thanks.
I don’t think it was ultimately her decision to make. The king has no clothes and everyone knows it. The jig is up and there was no saving her show once everyone found out what she was really like.
I love how Dakota did not put up with her shit and put her in her place lol.
Me too and I like how she called out her neighbors for trying to tow her vintage truck.
(PS I though this would go below Tiffany’s comment!)
I still dont understand why what Dakota did was putting her in her place
The i wasnt invited to your party joke is used by other talk show hosts like conan. Was she just calling her out for the joke being tired and overused?
Because otherwise to me she looked like she was shooting down ellens attempt to start a joke or banter with her because you know, shes a comedian?
If dakota had her own joke then she wouldn’t have seemed like such wet blanket. (Remember her zero chemistry with her costar in 50 shades?) but guests like her just make a talk show hosts job harder. Its part of why conan stopped doing as long of a show so he could be more selective in who he interviews because so many guests are tough to make look entertaining and hes left doing the heavy lifting when theyre the ones with something to sell music or a movie etc. Im really not getting why dakota is seen as so great here?
I think it’s partially that you expect a different treatment from a late night show than you do from a daytime show that’s host likes to present themselves as this charitable soft-ball interviewer. Ellen likes to manipulate things, and it really didn’t come off jokey.
I’m more interested in this announcement knowing that she’s supposedly been staying with Courtney Cox. I assume marital trouble and an attempt to reduce / hide assets.
Interesting Erinn! I want to hear more.
I fell in love with Dakota that day.
Me as well.
I became a fan of Dakota after that.
“not a challenge anymore” = “I can no longer scream at my employees.”
Ugh youre probably right. She got something out of behaving like that and now she feels exposed and that makes her uncomfortable. narcissists love to have a mask and her mask has fallen off
I imagine it’s a combo of her not caring about the show anymore, her being exposed as a bully and her having enough money/notoriety that she doesn’t really need the show anymore.
Was disappointed with the revelations, especially as kindness seemed to be part of her brand.
I think Drew Barrymore is taking over the position of Day Time talk show IT PERSON…slowly but steadily
She just interviewed Oprah
and i thin it was Oprahs way of validating Drew
and Drews way of telling the world (and Ellen)
IVE ARRIVED
IM READY!!
LOL at the Dakota Johnson tweet. I am mildly OCD about numbers so I would rather end on 20 years instead of 19 (also I hate the number 9) but all the negative press this year most likely sealed the deal. I think NBC would have been fine with her renewing had she really wanted too, the show is a cash cow. But this is the right thing for her to do.
“When you’re a creative person.” 🙄
This!
Everyone needs challenge in the workplace to stay motivated, not just ‘creative’ people.
There she is, ol’ demon eyes herself. Buh bye. Won’t be watching your new show.
I don’t know if it’s Kaiser who picks the headshots, but they are great and have given me lots of laughs over the years.
Whenever I see that pic, I it reminds me of the Vulcans on Star Trek.
Things changed so much for her in quite a short time- it was a just a couple years ago now that she was publicly deliberating on whether or not she’d quit at that point- remember that article where she was musing about quitting or staying, and how Portia really wanted her to stop around then was it 2018?
Really weird to think how differently she’d have ended things if she’d just done it then, just bit the bullet and ended things that bit sooner. She’d have gone out on such a high note, so adored and so successful (though I think there were rumours about her back then too.) Staying for the money ended up being a bad decision on her part when you think of what this last year has done for her reputation and her “legacy”.
i think they will scrub her past slip ups cleans and next season will be now long celeb fest of commemorating her success, her breakthroughs, and her amazing interviews
Seemed like she hated doing the show anyways. Plus I’m guessing the ratings where sh*t. Normally that’s the real reason shows end…just like the Kardashians…no one wants to watch anymore.
I mean 19 years is a good run for a daytime talk show, I can’t believe its been that long.
I don’t really think Dakota Johnson was a factor here people lol (I didn’t think that segment was the “gotcha” moment others did though).
I think the stories about the toxic work environment were a big factor, and I think Ellen has just been genuinely over it for a few years, so it probably is just time.
Well, it’s kind of a shame – I hope that “Mean Ellen” isn’t all that people consider of her legacy. I don’t know if people remember how hard it was to be a woman in stand-up comedy and how gutsy it was for her to come out both for herself and for her sit-com character. She took a lot of heat and her career looked like it was over. There’s no excuse for being abusive to staff and people have been right to call her on it, but she’s done some good things, too.
A lot of us admired Ellen for her courage in coming out, and I definitely remember the blow her career took afterward, but I agree there’s just no excuse for abusing staff and creating a hostile working environment. So unnecessary and it makes me so sad.
She signed a multi year deal with Discovery Channel. She’ll be fine🤑
Great, so she will still be tormenting people in the future!!
Whatever u may think, this was groundbreaking. Im sad its coming to end. There is hardly any female-led talk show host. I believe in repentance, a chance to change.
She shouldn’t have wait for an article to rectified her behaviour…..still sad.
She should have done like Rosie and leave after 5 years.
Goodbye you awful sadist. All I care about is tWitch.
Can we replace Ellen with Tig Notaro? I think Tig deserves her own talk show and would be good at it.
She kinda has one on YouTube where she tries to figure out who her guest is as she swears she doesn’t know who any celeb is because she just doesn’t watch enough to know. So if it’s true that she really doesn’t know who anyone is, I think that would make her a bad daytime host.
I don’t think Ellen could hide how miserable she is any longer. I heard even when she’s recording her show during the breaks she basically miserable right in front of the audience, like it’s so hard for her to keep a smile on her face for 5 minutes, Weren’t her guests calling her out too like that YouTube make up girl? Her game face was slipping and she couldn’t keep up with the pretence that she’s a happy, upbeat, lively person anymore.
I think a lot of comedians in particular must be easily emotionally drained being in the public eye, because people expect you to be happy and funny all the time. So when they are not in front of the camera or an audience you just want to switch off and be left alone. I think the show ending might do her some good. I never really watched it other than clips on YouTube, but I think it’s definitely had its day.
The cover photo choice, just sublime. Thank you for that
Love Dakota, sweet as pie but don’t mess with her, she’ll tell ya the truth! YAY. Ellen, no clue what is going on there, but I met her wife Portia at a book signing event charity deal, years ago and Portia was a total sweetheart. Unlike some people she was not there to hawk her book, she really wanted people to know about the dangers of eating disorders. Very important message. And yeah, check out Portia’s book, it’s important. (And no, I am no in way making one cent off lol hawking said book, I would never do that). But again it’s a good book and a topic that has to be discussed. ANYWAY, always wished Portia nothing but the best since then.
Ellen, don’t know , but yeah time to go and maybe be a little nicer in future. Dakota is so cool, gotta like her. And met Portia at a charity book thing years ago and she could not have been sweeter. She had just written an important book and seemed to genuinely want to help people. Wish Portia well, and way to go Dakota!