A Day at The Rosie Show!

Did you know that Rosie O’Donnell is coming back to television with The Rosie Show on the OWN Network?  It’s true!  Today, I had the fantastic experience of attending a taping of The Rosie Show at Harpo Studios in Chicago.  That’s right, Rosie’s new show is taped in the exact studio where The Oprah Winfrey Show was taped.  How’s that for good karma?  I was a big fan of Rosie’s first show back in the 90s and just think she is an inspiring and talented woman.

Always up for adventure, my friend Cindy and I drove to Harpo Studios this morning and jumped in line with the other 200+ people with reservations for the taping.

After we made our way inside, checked in and took our seats (we were fourth row!), the producers went over some rules of the taping.  It’s a fairly intimate set that seats about 230 people with a stage that rotates and elevates.  The Rosie Show has a house band, so they were introduced and played a bit of funk.  The band was really good and the singer happens to be Katreese Barnes who won two Emmys for writing that famous SNL song,  D*** in a Box.  That SNL sketch happens to be in my top 5 SNL sketches ever!

After a short monologue, we were ecstatic to learn that Molly Shannon, from SNL fame, was going to be a guest!  I adore her and all the characters she played on SNL, she’s absolutely hilarious in my eyes.  During the interview and we learned that she lost her mom and her sister in a car accident when she was just 4 years old.  Her father survived but had to learn to walk all over again.  What a tragic event for someone of any age to go through.  We also learned that Molly Shannon wrote a children’s book called Tilly the Trickster and the book is loosely based on Molly as a child.

Rosie and Molly sang a short, but funny, little song and then it was game time!  Rosie told us she loves games so each show will end with one.  Two contestants from the audience came up to compete in “The Ro Game” (trivia) and in the end each won a very nice prize.

We had A TON of laughs, we danced a bit, clapped A LOT (there is a lot of clapping involved in a 1 hour taping!).  It was an amazing day at The Rosie Show.  I enjoyed seeing Rosie in person and now Cindy and I will be old pros when we get to go back for another taping in November!  Each member of the audience left with a giftbag that contained Molly Shannon’s book, a keychain and some snacks.  Leave it to Rosie, right?  I’ve already read the book twice to my kids since I got home this afternoon and they both just love it.

Since one of the rules of the studio was having your cell phone off and no pictures during the taping, the last order of business was picture time!  The audience was allowed to bring out their cameras right before Rosie left the stage.

See how close to the stage we were? 🙂

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After Rosie said her goodbyes and left the stage, some of the producers came out for an announcement.  They will be looking for 20 women who want to lose weight on a prepared meal plan.  These 20 women will be provided with the prepared meals and will be losing weight with an unnamed celebrity.  Who could that be?  We don’t know, but Cindy and I both put our names on that list (along with a lot of other women) and our photos were taken.  We are both hoping to be chosen for that program, it sounds like a great opportunity!

All in all, today was a great day and it could not have been possible with out my honey, who took care of our two wonderful kids while I was at The Rosie Show!  Thank you, Ray…I LOVE YOU!!  Be sure to watch The Rosie Show on October 10 on the OWN Network, I know we will be watching. 🙂