Rosie O’Donnell, it appears, is going to make an effort to become the next Oprah, for the first time since the last time she tried to become the next Oprah. Several reports say that she’s preparing a new syndicated talk show, to try to fill the void left by Oprah as she leaves network TV to start her own cable channel.
I don’t see it happening—the Oprah-ization of Rosie, that is. She might be successful by some measure, but I doubt we’ll be talking Oprah-scale success. She had an excellent and successful talk show in the ’90s, but too much has happened since then with her public style and persona, I think, for her to have a really broad appeal. And I don’t mean her coming out as gay—that hardly hurt Ellen DeGeneres, who is probably much better poised to gain from Oprah’s departure. Rather, she’s become outspoken, pugnacious and a controversy magnet over the years—which, I thought, made her a good View panelist, but I doubt translates to becoming number one in daytime talk. (Also, Rosie Live can’t have helped.)
I have no crystal ball, though, so I ask you: Would you watch a Rosie talk show? And what kind of Rosie talk show would you watch?
