Rosie O'Donnell: April 2008 Archives

I came across an interview Helen Reddy gave to USA Today while I was vacationing so I've found myself humming "Angie Baby" at unexpected times since. In the late 70s, the first concert I ever went to was Helen Reddy at the Anaheim Convention Center. I was with one of my brothers and some cousins. I don't remember much about that concert but back in 1997 while I was vacationing in London, I caught her performance in "Blood Brothers" on the West End. It was a matinee and we got second row seats. Magical. It was during a record heat wave and the audience was given free ice cream before the show (or maybe during intermission) because it was so warm inside the theater.

I met Miss Reddy a few years ago at a book signing in Santa Monica for her memoir "The Woman I Am" and she told me how much she enjoyed that run of "Blood Brothers." I asked her why so many people still remember her songs all these years later. She kind of disappointed me with her answer which hinted there was something strange about it. Kind of like "People need to get a life."

Oh well, I didn't really like ther book that much. I wanted more showbiz dish and less reincarnation stuff. Anyway, this clip from 1997 is Miss Reddy on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" and it's tons of fun watching them team up for the classic anthem "I Am Woman" which Reddy co-wrote. Rosie really oughta do a DVD collection from her show don't ya think?

I just love these two! Sam Harris, who announced yesterday that he and his partner Danny have adopted a baby boy, taped a video blog segment with pal Rosie O'Donnell who reacts to the joyous news.

I love that these two immensely talented gay people are so open and directly in touch with their fans through the Internet because I watch these videos and it's not like I'd ever see anything this wonderful on Entertainment Tonight or TMZ.

Singer-actor Sam Harris and Rosie O'Donnell have much in common: both got their first big breaks on the 1980s talent show series "Star Search," both are in longtime happy relationships with same-sex partners, both have adopted at least one child and both are very busy in the video blogging world. Sam recently had Rosie on for his weekly "Friend Friday" chat and I have posted all three parts. We know that Rosie is smart and opinionated and this shows us that Sam is too! Another thing they have in common! It really is like eavesdropping on two old friends and these two are clearly very close...

Part A: Sam welcomes Rosie, who he met in 1984. "We were children," Sam says. We find out they appeared on Broadway together in "Grease" in the mid-90s. Also in the cast was Megan Mullally. This one's full of showbiz stories...love it!

Part B: It's mostly about Sam's great friend Bridget Moynahan who, it turns out, is Rosie's third cousin. "You guys have a lot in common,' Sam says. "You're both bull-headed." Says Rosie: "My way or the highway!"

Part C: It's all politics...Hillary, Barack and McCain and more...

I love when Rosie O'Donnell has something to promote because it's always fun and interesting to have her on television where she belongs! Love the video blog but Rosie should have her own show - one that does not include the misguided Elisabeth Hasselbeck. That being said, Whoopi Goldberg does a far better job as handling Hasselbeck than Rosie could which is the mark of a good moderator.

So, Rosie paid a visit to "Good Morning America" where she did things like do crafts with Diane Sawyer (her new book is about crafting - a longtime hobby of Rosie's) and got Robin Roberts, who lost her hair during chemotherapy for breast cancer, to take her wig off on live TV. Rosie is never boring! Here are some excerpts from her interview with the blonde goddess of network news, Diane Sawyer:

On leaving "The View" last year amid a blaze of fireworks: "It was a little bit of [a] trial period. I almost made it to the end. I'm the same person I always was. On my show there was no one with a conflicting point view and I was the boss, which works well with me."

On Hasselbeck, from who she still receives an occasional email: "She's very young. Your life is a little bit more black and white [when you are younger.]"

Clinton or Obama?: "I've been saying both from the beginning. I think the only way they are going to be able to serve the nation is to put down their own egos and combine forces. We need both of them is what I believe."

To read more and to see clips from Rosie's appearance, go to ABCNews.com.

Rosie O'Donnell appeared on Martha Stewart's daytime show Tuesday (she's got a new crafts book coming out) and the subject of Rosie's departure from "The View" and Elisabeth Hasselbeck was touched on:."I tried my best but it's hard for me when I'm not the boss. There was people there telling me what to do. There was a little Republican who scared me."

During O'Donnell's final weeks on the show, the Republican Hasselbeck, now 30, and the liberal O'Donnell famously sparred in May 2007 over the Iraq war. Here is a clip of that famous knock-down, drag-out fight from nearly a year ago that resulted in Rosie leaving the show three weeks earler than planned. She never returned to the show after this showdown: