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Holiday turkey:
Not so riveting Rosie


O'Donnell comeback special on NBC pulls dismal 1.2

Dec 1, 2008
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It looks like Rosie O’Donnell’s TV comeback was short-lived.

After days of hype for her pre-Thanksgiving special, including a renewal of her long-running feud with Barbara Walters, O’Donnell received anemic ratings for “Rosie Live,” which aired at 8 p.m. Wednesday on NBC.

“Live” averaged a mere 1.2 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen overnights, tying ABC’s reportedly canceled “Pushing Daisies” in the timeslot.

Among total viewers, “Live” attracted just 5 million, or barely half the timeslot winner, Fox’s “Bones.”

“Live” was billed as O’Donnell’s big TV comeback, roughly a year and a half after she exited “The View” after months of building tension with her co-hosts. Previously, O’Donnell hosted a high-rated syndicated talk show, and several networks had pursued her for her first post-“View” project.

By Friday, O’Donnell had broken the news on her blog that “Live,” which was conceived as a series of specials, had been canceled. In her trademark capitals-free style, O’Donnell wrote, “there will b no more.”

The show was a throwback to variety programs of the past, with performers ranging from Alanis Morissette to Clay Aiken to Liza Minnelli to relative unknowns. It was also the type of show that had not performed well on broadcast for years.

In addition to receiving, O’Donnell admitted, poor reviews, the show also aired on a notoriously slow night for television, the evening before Thanksgiving, when broadcast ratings were down on every network from the previous week.

No network managed better than a 2.9 average on the night, and NBC pulled just a 1.5, likely its lowest-rated non-Saturday or Friday night of the season.

But while O’Donnell’s variety show will die, her feud with her former co-hosts on “The View” will apparently live on.

During a press conference promoting “Live” nearly two weeks ago, O’Donnell accused Walters, the show’s co-creator, of fostering the false image of “View” co-hosts as best pals on and off camera.

In reality, O’Donnell charged, there was little camaraderie among the women, even before she and Elisabeth Hasselbeck had their infamous on-air blowout, after which O’Donnell left the show.

That very night, Walters and co-hosts Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg had a showy dinner together in New York, and Walters took pains on Friday’s show to emphasize once again that the co-hosts are tight.

“I don't know of any five women who get along as well as we do,” she declared. “We see each other off-camera. Whoopi is having a big Christmas party for everybody.”

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Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.




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