Rosie O'Donnell leaving `The View'
NEW YORK - <FORM class=yqin action=http://yq.search.yahoo.com/search method=post> </FORM>Rosie O'Donnell's stormy tenure on "The View" will be a short one. The opinionated host was unable to agree on a contract with ABC, and she'll leave the show in June.
"My needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me," O'Donnell said in a statement Wednesday.
"This has been an amazing experience," she said, "and one I wouldn't have traded for the world."
O'Donnell has helped raise the ratings for the daytime chat show invented by Barbara Walters. But her outspokenness has caused almost constant controversy, including a nasty name-calling feud with Donald Trump that placed Walters squarely in the middle.
"I induced Rosie to come back to television on `The View' even for just one year," Walters said. "She has given the program new vigor, new excitement and wonderful hours of television. I can only be grateful to her for this year."
Walters was frequently left to clean up the damage after O'Donnell. She did it most recently Monday, when O'Donnell was criticized for using bad language and attacking Rupert Murdoch from the dais of the annual New York Women in Communication awards luncheon.
"I would like to point out that Rosie's view is not always mine," Walters said. "I would like to say for the record that I am very fond of Rupert Murdoch."
In the Trump imbroglio, O'Donnell was reportedly mad that Walters did not come more swiftly to her defense, while Trump said Walters told him she didn't want O'Donnell on the show — a claim Walters denied.
Statements by public figures are being watched more closely in the post-Don Imus era. The lobbying group Focus on the Family said it was preparing to contact advertisers on "The View" as part of a campaign against O'Donnell. The group is angry at O'Donnell for comments they feel were insulting to Catholics.
Despite controversy — or maybe because of it — O'Donnell was good business for ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co. Ratings for "The View" during February sweeps were up 15 percent in key women demographics over the same time in 2006.
Bill Carroll, an expert in the syndication market for Katz Television, said he'd be surprised if ABC didn't try hard to keep O'Donnell, given the attention she brought to the long-running show.
The timing of the announcement doesn't particularly suit O'Donnell if she wants to remain in daytime television. She wouldn't be able to introduce a new program to the syndication market until September 2008, he said. But the company that produced O'Donnell's long-running daytime show has expressed interest in having her back, he said.
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Rosie O' Donnell Closer to Solo Show
Rosie O' Donnell will likely take her first steps toward returning to a solo talk show in the next four to six months.
The contract that the controversial co-host of ABC's "The View" has with the network stipulates that she must first negotiate with a division of the Walt Disney Co. in good faith if she wants to strike out on her own with a new show, according to people familiar with the contract. Disney owns ABC.
Those same sources said they are confident Ms. O'Donnell will trigger that clause by spring or summer.
Attendees at the National Association of Television Program Executives conference this week in Las Vegas speculated that Ms. O' Donnell already had a handshake deal with Warner Bros. for a new show. A spokesman for Warner Bros. said there have been no negotiations. A spokesman for Endeavor, which represents Ms. O'Donnell, could not be reached for comment by press time.
Still, if Ms. O' Donnell does leave "The View" for a show of her own, she has many connections to Warner Bros., suggesting she ultimately might land there. Hilary Estey McLoughlin, president of Warner's Telepictures Productions division, executive produced Ms. O'Donnell's popular 1990s syndicated talk show "The Rosie O'Donnell Show." Ms. O' Donnell likewise has longstanding ties with Jim Paratore, who was president of Telepictures when the division produced "Rosie," which Warners also distributed. Mr. Paratore now heads a Warner-based production company, ParaMedia, where he is producing upcoming news magazine "TMZ."
Disney likely would fight to keep Ms. O' Donnell should she leave "The View," according to ABC insiders. Since she joined the daytime roundtable, ratings for the 10-year old show have grown by double-digit percentages and hit all-time highs. In recent weeks, Ms. O'Donnell's feud with Donald Trump has generated a round of press coverage for the show. The ABC insiders also said the contract with Ms. O' Donnell protects the network from losing the comedienne easily. An ABC spokesman declined to comment.
Industry executives said a competitor to Disney or Warner could emerge in the pursuit of Ms. O' Donnell. CBS Television Distribution Group, which comprises the merged King World and CBS Paramount, could step in with an offer.
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