Television career
DeGeneres's first regular TV role was in a short-lived Fox sitcom called Open House in 1989, a spin-off of the show Duet. She played the role of Margo Van Meter, a receptionist at the Juan Verde Real Estate company. The show co-starred Alison LaPlaca and Mary Page Keller. In 1992, producers Neal Marlens and Carol Black cast DeGeneres in their sitcom Laurie Hill, in the role of Nurse Nancy MacIntyre. The series was canceled after only four episodes, but Marlens and Black soon cast her in their next ABC pilot, These Friends of Mine, which they co-created with David S. Rosenthal.
Inspired by her comedy career, These Friends of Mine was renamed Ellen after the first season. The ABC show was popular in its first few seasons due in part to DeGeneres's style of observational humor; it was often referred to as a "female Seinfeld".
Ellen reached its height of popularity in April 1997, when DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on the cover of Time (with the headline, "Yep, I'm gay") and subsequently The Oprah Winfrey Show. Her character on the sitcom also came out of the closet to her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey. The coming-out episode, titled "The Puppy Episode", was one of the highest-rated episodes of the show. The series returned for a fifth season but experienced falling ratings and was canceled.
DeGeneres returned to television in 2001 with a new CBS sitcom, The Ellen Show, which was canceled after 13 episodes. In 2007, a former writer said she treated the writers "like shit" saying "Why do you keep writing these unfunny jokes?" After her sitcoms, DeGeneres would later re-establish herself as a successful talk show host.
DeGeneres launched a daytime television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, in September 2003. One of several celebrity-hosted talk shows surfacing at the beginning of that season, including those of Sharon Osbourne and Rita Rudner, her show has consistently risen in the Nielsen ratings and received widespread critical praise. It was nominated for 12 Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season, winning four, including Best Talk Show. The show won 25 Emmy Awards for its first three seasons on the air. For much of the duration of the show, DeGeneres was known for dancing with the audience at the beginning of the show and during commercial breaks. She often gave away free prizes and trips to be in her show's studio audience with the help of her sponsors. DeGeneres later stated that she stopped dancing as it became an expectation and too much of a burden.
DeGeneres celebrated her thirty-year class reunion by flying her graduating class to California to be guests on her show in February 2006. She presented Atlanta High School with a surprise gift of a new electronic LED marquee sign. DeGeneres made a surprise appearance at Tulane University's May 2006 commencement in New Orleans. Following George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton to the podium, she appeared in a bathrobe and furry slippers. "They told me everyone would be wearing robes", she said. Ellen made another commencement speech at Tulane in 2009.
The show broadcast for a week from Universal Studios Orlando in March 2007. Skits included DeGeneres going on the Hulk Roller Coaster Ride and the Jaws Boat Ride. DeGeneres was placed on bed rest in May 2007 due to a torn ligament in her back. She continued hosting her show from a hospital bed, tended to by a nurse, explaining "the show must go on, as they say." Guests sat in hospital beds as well. On May 1, 2009, DeGeneres celebrated her 1000th episode with celebrity guests such as Oprah Winfrey, Justin Timberlake and Paris Hilton, among others. Jennifer Aniston and Justin Timberlake surprised DeGeneres on her 2,000th show in December 2015.
DeGeneres replaced Paula Abdul as a judge on the ninth season of American Idol. Her role started after the contestant auditions, at the beginning of "Hollywood Week". It is reported that DeGeneres also signed a contract to be a judge on the show for at least five seasons. She made her American Idol debut on February 9, 2010. However, on July 29, 2010, DeGeneres and Fox executives announced that the comedian would be leaving American Idol after one season. In a statement, DeGeneres said that the series "didn't feel like the right fit for me".
DeGeneres began hosting the NBC game show Ellen's Game of Games during the 2017–2018 television season. Based on games played on her talk show, the series previewed on December 18, 2017, with regular episodes starting the following January. It would run for four total seasons until May 2021, with its cancellation announced in January 2022.
The New York Times profiled DeGeneres in 2018 as she faced the decision of renewing her talk-show contract and was exploring other outlets for her creativity, including her Netflix comedy special Relatable, which spoofs her kind image. They noted she felt boxed in with a reputation of always being nice, and the host who danced all the time. DeGeneres—who acknowledges that she has always been overly sensitive—fretted how her audience would react when she no longer wanted to dance. Her Christian Scientist upbringing included her father's psyche, "He was a very fearful man, he couldn't hear or engage with anything unpleasant."
In 2019, Time created 89 new covers to celebrate women of the year starting from 1920; it chose DeGeneres for 1997.
