The table's set for Rosie O'Donnell's holiday-season stab at reviving the variety genre.
NBC will air "Rosie's Variety Show" live from New York on the night before Thanksgiving -- Nov. 26 -- at 8 p.m. Special, which has been in the works for months, is believed to be the precursor to a regular variety skein fronted by O'Donnell that would bow in the new year.
The hourlong event will include celebrity guests, musical acts, comedy skits and a contest both for in-studio and at-home auds, the network said. David Friedman ("Last Comic Standing," "Last Call With Carson Daly") will exec produce with O'Donnell.
"We want to show people that variety can be done in a new and inventive way for 2008," said Craig Plestis, NBC Entertainment's exec VP for alternative programming, development and specials. "We hope to do it in ways you haven't seen before. It's going to be the YouTube of variety shows.."