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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Melissa Camacho

Based on the stand-up comedy of Ellen DeGeneres, ELLEN centers on Ellen Morgan (DeGeneres), a quirky, single, thirtysomething, vegetarian, animal-loving bookstore owner living in Los Angeles who deals with the everyday trials and tribulations of life by keeping a positive attitude, maintaining her sense of humor, and rambling excessively. With the help of her roommate, photographer Adam Green (Arye Gross); her narcissistic, social-climbing high school friend Paige Clark (Joely Fisher); annoying but loveable co-book store employee Audrey Penney (Clea Lewis); and Canadian coffee server Joe Farrell (David Anthony Higgins), Ellen's daily activities turn into absurd situations. In later seasons cousin Spence Kovak (Jeremy Piven) moves in, adding to both Ellen's circle of friends and her zany adventures. The pressure that Ellen's parents Lois (Alice Hirson) and Harold (Steven Gilborn) put on her to get married and "settled down" leads to painfully awkward dating scenarios, but much of this awkwardness is explained away after Ellen's groundbreaking announcement in Season 4 that she's a lesbian.

Is It Any Good?

4

While's Ellen's coming out made TV history and opened the door for other openly gay characters to appear on mainstream television, Ellen Morgan's coming out led the series away from poking fun at the mundane to addressing serious issues surrounding sexual orientation and same-sex relationships. Regardless of this shift, Ellen is never salacious in nature and remains a funny ensemble series that reminds viewrs that even the most ordinary activities can become hilarious if we let ourselves laugh.

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