Rosie's Return Means Round Two With Barbara Walters

By Ben Widdicombe Posted Mar 23rd 2010 02:00PM

Rosie O'Donnell's plan to return to daytime chat means that viewers will get to watch a fight for Oprah Winfrey's crown that once looked like it would pass smoothly to Barbara Walters and the ladies from 'The View.'

And it's a fight Rosie could win.

After Oprah announced that her 25 years on network television would end in September 2011, 'The View' beat out 'Ellen' in a battle for her coveted time slot. But after a brief peace, Rosie has already come out swinging against her former sparring partners.

"I [know] that 'The View' wants to be on in the Oprah spot," O'Donnell said yesterday on her Sirius Satellite radio program, adding that when Walters asked her when her new show would air, "I said, 'Oh yeah, the Oprah spot' -- to which Barbara's face goes slack-ish."

She was joking, but her glee at the exchange sets the tone for a pitched battle over who will be the new Diva of Daytime. So why will Rosie win?

"She can command an audience," says veteran TV executive Mark Finkelpearl. "Rosie has enormous brand equity and this is clearly a sign that people are ready, willing and able to invest in her again. She does belong in this space [of daytime TV] and she's proven time and again that she can do it."

And let's not forget the slew of Emmys she won during her six years at the helm of 'The Rosie O'Donnell Show,' including five consecutive awards for Best Talk Show. While O'Donnell is often portrayed as a "love her or hate her" figure, Finkelpearl believes that her essential popularity will win out. "When I think of Howard Stern or Bill O'Reilly, those are polarizing figures. With Rosie, she reaches much more of a mainstream audience than people give her credit for," he says.

And there's no question that Rosie is hungry for success. Another source, who has worked with O'Donnell in the past, told PopEater, "Rosie loves a fight, it energizes her. When she left 'The View' and clashed with Barbara, some people thought it was a put-on for the cameras, but she was really fired up. Rosie will relish a chance to go hand-to-hand with Barbara Walters on competing shows."

Rosie has already outined the plan for her new series. She told Entertainment Tonight that it will be "a single topic, hour-long show about life, love and laughter."

O'Donnell added that there won't be a desk or stars promoting their upcoming projects. "It's gonna be a lot different, because I'm a lot older, you know. It'll be a dozen years since leaving my own show when we go back on the air and I've grown a lot and I think that it's time," she said.

With Oprah leaving the stage and Ellen Degeneres diversifying into other formats, like 'American Idol,' the timing seems perfect for the one-time "Queen of Nice" to return to talk. Whether the "Nice"-ness will last in a battle with 'The View' remains to be seen.

Tags: barbara walters, rosie odonnell, the view

Comments

(455)

Wednesday 24 March

By Don

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Anyone that like's Rosie has got to be sick in the head.

Tuesday 23 March

By lobo7606

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Over-weight, obnoxious and bigoted. NO ROSIE, NO ROSIE--PLEASE, PLEASE!!!

By Ken Siemers Sr.

Why is this no talent beast being allowed air time. I wish she would just go away and stay away.

By LMcGraw

PLEASE PUT ON THE BONNIE HUNT SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By Lynne

I agree....I LOVE Bonnie Hunt..she is refreshing, funny, clean and not mean spirited. Rosie is done and Elisabeth Hasselbeck annoys me to no end.....Whoopie, run for your life...you are the only reason I tune in, oh and Sherry is sweet and hilarious. I do not understand TV execs love affair with Hasselbeck! I cannot stand her!!!!

By Bill T.

Just look what she did to Tom Selleck (its on you tube)she sucks big ones...oh-wait no she dosen't

By Barb

I think you should go to Russia to live and take Rose-man with ya..

By guy

Rosies' a swamp sow. Get'er out!!!

By Jim

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Rosie's show won't last too long, Her caustic and snide manner will doom her show.

By zby82000

Isn't she washed up yet? Does anyone really want to see her on tv again. I hope not.

By bob

Why would anyone allow this fat, ugly, carpet munching pig to pollute the air waves? She's the most disgusting poor excuse for a human being I ever saw. A true pimple on the ass of society.

By Skizzy

Rosy O'Donnell:
No talent
No looks
No brains
No sense
No appeal

The only thing she has an abundance of is fat cells. What a PIG!

Bill, from another Bill, suck it. you make up ALMOST a 3rd of the entire population

Road Rage Rosie should just go away. I feel sorry for all of her kids. Donald trump is right about this fat slob.

By Chuck

I would sure hate to see this hypocritical, two-faced, mad at everybody and everything return to the air on any network. What a waste of network air time.

By Jerry Cates

Please...not another talk show, especially with Rosie.

By catfishjm

She is nothing but a fat ass loser, with a big mouth.

By Michael

Look up MAD COW Disease in the dictionary. It has Rosies Picture as an example!!

By bill

It should be illegal for that bimbo to be within 1000 feet of a television camera.

By Brian

Please keep that fat disgusting skank off T.V. there' enough
hatred in the world without her spewing her revolting vitriolic mouth off.

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