Ellen–from ‘Degenerate’ to ‘The Generous’

Ellen DeGeneres at the NBC/Universal portion of the 2015 Winter Television Critics Associaton Tour, Jan. 16, in Pasadena, California Getty Images/AFP

Many people take Ellen DeGeneres’ decades-long TV stardom for granted, but attention must be paid: It’s a phenomenon and achievement that should be celebrated and honored, because it’s extremely rare, and exceedingly difficult to achieve.

Just take a look at the original odds: When Ellen started in the comedy trade, lesbian or even “mannish” stars were virtually nonexistent, except for Greta Garbo, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn—and definitely, they weren’t funny!

The female comedy stars in the 1960s and ’70s may have played bimbos and klutzes, but they were 100 percent straight females. So, Ellen had to go the usual “girlie” route, complete with bangs and skirt—until she bit the bullet, dared the entertainment industry to do its worst, and came out as—a pioneering lesbian laughsmith!

That, by the way, sounds like a contradiction, because lesbians are stereotypically regarded as not having even the sliver of a funny bone in their bodies.

They’re characterized by some as grimly trying to out-macho the guys, that’s why—but the “new” or “more real” Ellen nixed all that, and feistily made viewers laugh out loud at a gender-bender “phenom” that they were just beginning to nervously acknowledge.

It was a rough couple of years in the beginning, but Ellen’s edgy experiment paid off, because more viewers came to respect her for her honesty and—dare we say it!—courage, and welcomed her to mainstream TV!

Why was an exception made in her case? Not just because she was brash and daring, but also because her jokes were actually funny —unlike other gender-benders on TV who were so hung up on their earnest efforts to prove their “bended” point that their jokes had a lot of punches, but no punch line!

Then came the “pop historic” moment a decade ago, when Ellen was finally given her own talk-variety TV show, which celebrated instead of finessed away her chosen or declared gender.

More amazingly, her show was embraced by the mainstream viewing public. She was Oprah with cojones—that took a little getting used to, but it finally happened, and “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is now a certified hit on the global boob tube.

Speaking of Ellen’s name, its evolving history is quite an instructive example of viewers’ changing attitudes through the years:

At the very start, some macho dissers scathingly mispronounced and misread it as “Ellen Degenerate,” which some cave dwellers at the time thought she was.

Then, as she began to enjoy mainstream acceptance due to her penchant for giving child talents a big break, among other gambits, derision gave way to grudging admiration.

Next, as Ellen’s show became known for rooting for and helping the underdog and the disenfranchised, she became “Ellen The Generous”—a complete transformation highlighted by the fact that her series’ Christmas giveaway telecasts are the hottest tickets on TV, each Yuletide season!

From “Degenerate” to “The Generous”—how cool and amazing is that? And “our” Ellen deserves all of the good and great things coming her way—because she’s dared to be honest and real on the notoriously “fantasy” TV screens and has thus achieved unprecedented and industry-bending success—her way!