The rumors are true—Rosie O’Donnell will attempt to fill Oprah’s shoes with an afternoon talk show in 2011. “A lot of companies have asked in the few years that I’ve been gone, since 2002,” she told Entertainment Tonight last night. “[But] now all my kids are in school and I’ve got my days free…with Oprah leaving, there’s a huge void in daytime.” Unlike her earlier daytime show, O’Donnell promises no desks or “celebs promoting movies,” just “a single topic, hour-long show about life, love and laughter…maybe a few giveaways.” And if ratings are low…maybe a few celebs.
With Tyra abdicating her own talk show, Rosie is close to an O surrogate as we can imagine, but many wonder if O’Donnell is too persnickety and opinionated—remember her View meltdowns?—to assume the mantle (the failure of her 2008 variety show doesn’t bode well for her enduring popularity either). But the once and future talk show host sounds determined to alleviate such concerns, promising nothing but “laughter and love in the afternoon.” “It’s gonna be a lot different because I’m a lot older, you know,” she said. “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.” Viewers will get to be the judge of that next year.
[Photo: Getty Images]
