Questions arise over future of The Ellen Show

While officials at CBS continue to insist that The Ellen Show is on temporary hiatus, MSNBC.com columnist Jeannette Walls quotes a studio source who says the show won't be back. "There were people chopping up [the] set with an ax. I don't care what anyone says, that show has been axed--literally," says the source, who also claims that Ellen DeGeneres's dressing room has been emptied out, that her name has been taken off her dressing room door, and that orange traffic cones have been placed in front of her parking space in the CBS parking lot. "No final decision has been made on the show," insists a CBS spokeswoman.

The Ellen Show has seen fluctuating ratings--better on Monday nights than in the show's Friday slot--and network executives made a resounding commitment to the show following her widely praised performance as host of the Emmy Awards. CBS recently cut its order of 22 episodes back to 18, which they said was due to the network's decision to counterprogram the Winter Olympics with theatrical films instead of with new series episodes.