Chelsea Lately
By Kari Croop,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Late-night talk show host speaks her (dirty) mind.
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A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.
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Based on 4 parent reviews
Precious!
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Chelsea Handler, Once not good for young people, Now not good for anyone.
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What's the Story?
Comedian Chelsea Handler takes the reins of her own late-night talk show in CHELSEA LATELY, a nightly half-hour program that finds her chatting up celebrities and discussing pop culture news with an ever-rotating round table of guest comedians. Her diminutive assistant/sidekick, Chuy Bravo, usually joins her on stage and contributes the occasional one-liner to the conversation. Regular segments include "Things You Can Do With Vodka" and "Fat Ass Baby," as well as parodies of popular E! shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
Is It Any Good?
For adults who relish celebrity gossip and appreciate a good one-liner laced with acid (and/or vodka), Chelsea Lately serves up the goods in a stylish late-night format that mimics the look of longer-running programs like Late Night with Conan O'Brien or The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. The humor is bawdy -- and it isn't for everyone. But if you dig Handler's no-holds-barred style (she's billed as having "the sharpest tongue in late night"), you'll get plenty of the laughs you came for.
Handler also gets props for being the lone female voice on late-night television and only the second woman in showbiz -- after Joan Rivers, who was a frequent stand-in for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and went on to helm her own after-hours program, The Late Show starring Joan Rivers in the 1980s -- to regularly host a late-night show.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the fact that Handler is currently the only female talk show host in a late-night line-up that includes Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, and Craig Ferguson. Why do men tend to rule the late-night time slot? Are they inherently funnier than women?
Why does Handler focus so much on celebrity news and gossip? Do the celebrities she has on her show tend to be good role models or bad ones?
How do late-night talk shows like these influence a movie or television star's public image? How do they help (or hurt) stars promote their own brands?
TV Details
- Premiere date: July 16, 2007
- Cast: Chelsea Handler
- Network: E!
- Genre: Comedy
- TV rating: TV-14
- Last updated: July 31, 2022
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