OWN Cancels The Rosie Show

[Jonathan]

I'm shocked and I'm not shocked.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/own-cancels-rosie-o-donnell-301270

[DRW50]

Weren't there reports of conflict with Oprah over Rosie not wanting to move?

I think she's become too abrasive and unstable to host a talk show. The only time she gets attention is when she makes stupid comments, like the comments against little people. I never understood why Oprah gave her a show.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Someone should cancel the entire network, what an enormous flop.

[DRW50]

Maybe they will replace the show with a Bobbi Kristina show.

[Jonathan]

I heard that. If that's the case, I could see why O would not want to move the show. OWN already poured a lot of money into The Rosie Show and then to move it would take a bigger investment.

[BKuzak]

LOL that's my thoughts exactly. I'm not a Rosie fan at all. I loved her 1990's talk show but even then she said things and did things i didn't like. By the end of that i was glad to see her leave. when she came on the View, i gave her a second chance but that was a disaster right from the begining. "The season from hell" for the View. so i at first was not going to watch her new show but then i started watching it for her guests. She's had some amazing one-on-one guest appearences that i've loved. Phyliss Diller, Kathy Griffin, Liza, Star Jones etc...

As for hiring Rosie, I always thought Oprah was smarter than that. She has a dying network and what does she do...she put Rosie O'Donnell on it. stupid! and she's paying for it.

[Soapsuds]

The same stuff surfaced with Rosie again...she was difficult to work with...she wanted to move the show to NY which would have been costly. I just hated the set of the show...gave me the creeps.

[juppiter]

Rosie was great in the 90s as the Queen of Nice. Then she was great on The View as the Liberal Lioness. This was an uncomfortable compromise that just never seemed right. I like Rosie but this was a failure.

[alphanguy74]

Alvin, do you think there is anything that can save it? (the network, that is) What type of shows do you think Oprah should have gone for for this network? I'm kind of at a loss, for once... I don't know what I would have done with that network.

[Max]

Alphanguy, I can only speak for myself, but I don't believe that putting AMC and/or OLTL on OWN would have saved it. (I'm curious to read your thoughts on this matter, as I don't recall you having an opinion one way or the other on this issue. Of course, feel free to not respond if you so desire). I actually think that putting AMC and/or OLTL on own would have been a failure, given the sorry state of the network as well as the large budget cuts that both soaps would likely have received in order to even have gotten a place on the network's lineup.

I am not surprised that OWN is a failure, because lightning usually does not strike twice when it comes to great success. Few people seem to know when to quit while they are ahead.

[DaytimeFan]

I'm not shocked, this show was doomed the second it launched on OWN and I saw the first set which was the Oprah set, with purple lighting. I was shocked about that, no money had been poured into the show and the spark wasn't there, it was not the show Rosie was ready to do and it showed, she couldn't have been happy there.

What we've seen lately, the one on one interviews in the small set without an audience, is where Rosie shines and it suits her. I had a feeling this announcement was coming when I saw Rosie was guest hosting Piers Morgan Tonight since it's an identical format to her show, I could see her pinch hitting for Piers at CNN (especially as CNN has not honoured a part of his contract to build a permanent set in London for him) or doing something for HLN to replace Joy Behar's show.

Now, Rosie had a 2 year deal at OWN. Either there were major outs in that contract or Harpo/Discovery bought out the contract. Rosie also sold the Chicago house she bought only months ago for a small profit, so overall, this was not a losing deal for her.

I think OWN needs to put money into scripted programming, something that can be sold. So far, the network is failing.

[Jonathan]

I'm just shocked that they pulled it after only 5 months. That's not even a full season.

So much money was wasted on this show. Like that stupid "cookie" room that functioned as brainstorming space for the producers. Plus, the millions of dollars OWN spent on marketing this show. All of this money should've been used towards developing at least one scripted program.

I'm also really curious about her contract. For OWN's sake, I hope they didn't buy out her contract.

[BKuzak]

Well that's how some people saw it. I "bought into" the Queen of nice act too but even back in her first show, that "sweet" veneer was cracking with each season. Remember when she brought Tom Selleck on to promote some movie he was doing and then attacked him about his views on gun control? or when she'd have Erika Slezak on and say how big of a fan she was of her and then when Susan Lucci came on ...Rosie said how Erika Slezak just got emmy's for have multiple personalities and nothing more. Susan was an upstanding woman and just smiled because it was awakard to her. so even back then you could tell she was two faced. Although in her defence, i can not think of another daytime talk show that has had as many soap opera actors and actresses on it. Yes Soaptalk from Soapnet but that was only on a few months out of the year, not really full seasons. Rosie did (i think) 6 full seasons and had a lot of daytime people on it. Even from other stations. I know she had Kim Zimmer on at least twice and others from other networks.

and The View, She was horrible! every week she was picking fights and having celebrity feuds with people. And unlike Merridith Viera before and Whoopie now, Rosie was not someone who could sit back and moderate (which was her job discription.) She was suposed to give her opinions and then sit back and try to let everyone have their say. that's not Rosie. Rosie was "leader" and everyone else had to jump in when she took breaths and god help anyone who disagreed with her. it was a nightmare.

but like i said before, i actually started to like the new show because her one-on-one talks have been pretty insightful. Don't care about her but she had good guests.

[DRW50]

She was too thin-skinned to host a major show. I remember the first time I noticed was when she went on day after day and week after week about how Donnie Osmond called her fat.

I did appreciate the soap stars and some of the old nostalgia but it was just a very unsettling show, from one or two seasons in.

[DaytimeFan]

OWN had to buy out her contract, it was a multi-million dollar deal, Rosie turned down a syndicated NBC deal at the request of Oprah. We know what syndication deals are worth, $10+ million right off the bat, so I'm certain OWN's offer had to be competitive.

This is a very interesting article and it demonstrates how blame is on both Rosie and Oprah and the team at OWN, most of whom have been fired:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/17/rosie-o-donnell-s-disastrous-oprah-winfrey-network-experience.html