Oprah Winfrey and Rosie O'Donnell are two of the biggest personalities in TV talk show history -- so is there room for both of them on the same network? Things seemed nice and friendly in the fall, when Oprah offered Rosie a show on the new Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). But now, reports are leaking that the two daytime queens aren't getting along.
"Oprah and Rosie have not been seeing eye to eye on the tone of Rosie's new show," an OWN insider tells PopEater. "Oprah sees it as a friendly daytime talk show where viewers get to spend an hour with the old Rosie they used to love. Rosie, on the other hand, thinks the show should be more political and a place where she can express her liberal views."
Hmm, that a lot like what happened right before O'Donnell was fired from The View in 2007. Back then, her political tirades were trying the patience of another powerful media mogul, Barbara Walters.
Oprah actually anticipated that this might happen again. In an article about OWN, Winfrey admitted that she'd visited O'Donnell at home to do a "crazy check." At the end of her visit, she concluded that she and Rosie could work together, as long as Rosie spoke with her "woman to woman" instead of airing her issues on the radio or the Internet. So far, O'Donnell seems to have honored that agreement. But it sounds like Oprah might be making things worse by keeping her on a short leash.
"Oprah wants Rosie to use an executive producer that she knows and trusts," says PopEater's source. "Rosie insists she be able to pick her own, fearing whoever Oprah picks will be a spy. It's a bad way to start off, considering they haven't even taped a single show yet."
We think Oprah's instincts are probably right in this case; Rosie's personal side has always been more popular than her political side. And really, it's O'Donnell's job to deliver the show that Oprah asked for. After all, it's her network!
Would you rather that Rosie O'Donnell's new show be political, or more fun? Chime in below!
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