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On 'The View,'
Octomom gets a grilling

The mother of 13 is ripe for fertile conversation

By Louisa Ada Seltzer
Feb 24, 2010

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Over the past 13 months there have been a lot of outrageous rumors about Octomom, aka Nadya Suleman, the woman who gave birth to octuplets conceived via in vitro fertilization last year. She'll have a chance to shoot down the gossip today when she appears on ABC's "The View" at 11 a.m.

Over the past year, Suleman has been offered a porn deal and a reality show and been the subject of the inevitable "Octomom: The Musical."

That latest rumor had the single mom of 13 kids in talks with GSN, the game show network, about a possible dating show. The prospect of such a show could have kept Gawker and TMZ occupied for months writing over-the-top headlines, especially when a second rumor emerged that Jon Gosselin would be one of her suitors.

Alas, word came over the weekend that it's just not true. Suleman won't be doing a dating show, and if she hooks up with Gosselin, you'll have to see it on Radaronline.com, where she has her own reality show.

Today's "View" appearance should be entertaining, as co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg are sure to put some tough questions to Suleman, who has been criticized for having so many children when she is on public assistance.

It's Suleman's first time on "View," and she drops by as the show is coming off its best week of the season, the week ended Feb. 14. The show averaged 4.36 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, its most-watched week in almost a year, buoyed by the presence of guest host Megan McCain and guest Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.

It also averaged a 1.4 rating among the key demographic of women 18-49, where it ranked third among all daytime shows, behind CBS's "The Young and the Restless" and ABC's "General Hospital."

A look at this week’s top TV draws
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Tonight the 12 male semifinalists take the stage.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Lindsey Vonn skis live in the women’s giant-slalom final.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“NBA Basketball” (S)	A good Western Conference game between the Lakers and Mavericks.
10 p.m.	Bravo	“Shear Genius” (R)	This week the stylists work flowers into their styles.
10 p.m.	FX	“Nip/Tuck” (D)	Julia pays a visit to Sean and Christian, and Liz reveals that she’s pregnant.
10 p.m.	MTV	“The Real World” (R)	Tension boils over when play fighting escalates to the real thing.
10 p.m.	USA	“Psych” (D)	A think tank is formed to prevent a businessman from being assassinated, but it turns out one of its members may actually be plotting to kill.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25
Time	Network	Program	Description
7 a.m.	CBS	“The Early Show” (N)	Johnny Depp and Tim Burton guest and talk about “Alice in Wonderland.”
8 p.m.	Fox	“American Idol” (R)	Two guys and two gals are cut in the season’s first elimination episode.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Tonight’s highlight is coverage of the women’s figure skating free skate.
9 p.m.	TLC	“Police Women of Maricopa County” (R)	Season premiere. This round of officers deal with perps in the Phoenix area.
10 p.m.	USA	“Burn Notice” (D)	A kidnapper is hiding a secret and is also kinda paranoid.
10:30 p.m.	TNT	“NBA Basketball” (S)	If you like run-and-gun basketball, tonight’s Denver-Golden State game is for you.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26
Time	Network	Program	Description
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Apolo Ohno and Lindsey Vonn are back competing for more medals.
8 p.m.	Fox	“NAACP Image Awards” (A)	Live coverage of the 41st annual awards show.
8 p.m.	ABC	“Blades of Glory” (M)	Perhaps the best figure skating parody movie ever. Also maybe the only figure skating parody movie ever.
9 p.m.	VH1	“Famous Crime Scene” (N)	Another look at the circumstances surrounding Michael Jackson’s death.
9 p.m.	Syfy	“Caprica” (D)	Tamara becomes friends with gamers in a virtual world.
10 p.m.	Starz	“Spartacus: Blood and Sand” (D)	Spartacus thinks of a backup plan in case he’s not able to reunite with his wife.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27
Time	Network	Program	Description
Noon	CBS	“College Basketball” (S)	National power Kentucky faces a tough test at Tennessee.
8 p.m.	Fox	“Cops” (R)	Cops in Texas find out a drunk driving suspect has more than one identity.
8 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	Medal winners in figure skating perform at the Champions Gala.
9 p.m.	ESPN	“College Basketball” (S)	Villanova faces Syracuse in a game that could end up deciding the Big East regular-season title.
11 p.m.	Fox	“The Wanda Sykes Show” (C)	Ray Romano, Roland Martin and Kevin Hart all guest.
11:30 p.m.	NBC	“Saturday Night Live” (S)	Jennifer Lopez serves as guest host.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28
Time	Network	Program	Description
Noon	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	The gold medal game in men’s hockey is featured.
2 p.m.	Fox	“NASCAR Racing” (S)	A Sprint Cup race from Las Vegas.
7 p.m.	NBC	“Winter Olympics” (S)	It’s all over: the closing ceremonies bring an end to this year’s Games.
9 p.m.	CBS	“Undercover Boss” (R)	The co-owner of White Castle serves up sliders himself.
9 p.m.	ABC	“Desperate Housewives” (D)	Celia comes down with chicken pox, so Gaby stays with Bob and Lee.
9 p.m.	HBO	“Big Love” (D)	Marilyn comes up with a plan that could affect Bill’s political aspirations.
A = awards show or special, C = comedy, D = drama, DD = daytime drama, G = game show, K = kids, M = movie, N = news/documentary, R = reality, S = sports, T = talk/variety show.