Come mid-June, Rosie O'Donnell is no longer going to take time to enjoy "The View."
O'Donnell was unable to agree on a contract with ABC network, and she'll leave the show in June, the ABC network has confirmed.
"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."
Producer and ocassional co-host Barbara Walters is probably breathing a sigh of relief in my opinion. Although the outspoken Rosie drove up ratings, her battles with the likes of Donald Trump and others must have privately given the veteran news legend fits!
Walters said in a statement:. "I induced Rosie to come back to television on 'The View' even for just one year. She has given the program new vigor, new excitement and wonderful hours of television. I can only be grateful to her for this year."
As recently as Monday, Walters was forced to do damage control when O'Donnell was criticized for using bad language [She said to a non-present Donald Trump: 'Eat me!"] and attacked Rupert Murdoch from the dais of the annual New York Women in Communication awards luncheon.
Walters said on the show the next day: "I would like to point out that Rosie's view is not always mine. I would like to say for the record that I am very fond of Rupert Murdoch."
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. I don't know what she has planned next but, hmmmmmm, what are the odds that some network or syndicate is going to be backing in the Brinks trucks and offering Rosie gazillions to do her own show?