The Ellen Show

A few years after her “Let’s celebrate my lesbianism as a nation” campaign was ended, Ellen DeGeneres went back to the networks in search of a gig. The resulting project was the demurely titled The Ellen Show, in which the comedian played an Internet executive who finds herself in a small town…because all the important Internet executives…live in small towns. Cloris Leachman plays her Mom, which is good because Leachman’s funnier by accident than DeGeneres is on purpose. Martin Mull was also on board, marking his 2,500th appearance in a sitcom product.