Watching The View

According to Page Six, Rosie O’Donnell’s writer and friend Janette Barber (the “Ja” in Jahero) was escorted out of ABC studios on Wednesday because she allegedly drew mustaches on photographs of Elisabeth Hasselbeck that hang in the studio. According to the article, ABC did confirm that:

photographs at The View’s offices were defaced. Rosie O’Donnell was not in the building. ABC Legal and Human Resources are investigating the matter.

Can this really be true? Janette is a long-time friend of Rosie O’Donnell and I could see her wanting to do something to support her friend, but would she really stoop to such a low?

Rosie O’Donnell, Janette Barber, Page Six, The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck

In a new, but previously recorded episode (from either Monday or Tuesday afternoon), Padma Lakshmi from Top Chef appeared as guest host. The new season of Top Chef will begin on June 6th. Padma was born in India and moved to New York City when she was 4. She went to theater school and then modeled to pay off her school loans. She said that it was a hard business because she is woman of color and has scar on her arm from a car accident when she was fourteen. She said that now she won’t let them airbrush the scar out of photos because she is proud of it. She works with Keep a Child Alive as the ambassador for India.

After an abbreviated hot topics segment, the show had four segments regarding summer food: summer salads, grilling, summer drinks, and summer desserts.

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Rosie O’Donnell was absent from the show for what was labeled a “day off” because it was Kelli’s birthday. Barbara Walters sat in the moderator chair and said “Aunt Barbara is back” and all will be well again. She said that some people are saying that the fight on Wednesday was for ratings. Joy joked, “We’re not that smart.” Barbara pointed out that they got their highest ratings in February, when there were no feuds. Guest host Kathy Griffin joked that she would “love it if Barbara would punch me in the face and I’d be on all the shows tomorrow.”

Barbara also said that what was so great about The View is that women have been able to have debates, without letting emotion getting into it. She also said that if they had issues in the past that they used to do it off-stage, but in this case it happened on camera. She then added that it was still a “normal” day, if there is such a thing for The View.

Elisabeth said that the argument between her and Rosie would not have gotten so much publicity if it had been between two men. Joy said that kind of fighting is not good for the show, because that is what drove Crossfire off their air. Kathy said that she wanted to talk more about the fight and Barbara took a tone with her and asked her “do you want to be on the show again?”
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ABC has posted the entire episode of Thursday’s show online for those of you who, like me, had the show preempted. The episode is available in five parts here.

I have not had a chance to watch it yet, but will post a recap soon. The hot topics were, obviously the argument from Wednesday, which the site labels “The Feud,” the American Idol finale, and celebrity party prices, among others. The guest segments were the Dancing with the Stars winners, healing heartburn, and the foster care system.

The previously scheduled segment with the creators of the documentary Loose Change did not appear. No official word from ABC if that segment will be rescheduled.

The View, ABC, Rosie O’Donnell, Barbara Walters, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar

Rosie answered some more questions on her blog today which showed that she probably won’t return to The View.

i have said all i needed

when painting
there is a point
u must step away from the canvas
as the work
is done

anymore would take away

Friday’s episode is always prerecorded and I have read that Monday’s episode next week was already recorded because of the holiday. If that is true, then Tuesday would be the next day that Rosie would be scheduled to return to work. I would imagine that if she is really calling it quits, she will make some kind of formal announcement before then. It would be nice if Rosie was able to finish out her contract, but that seems more and more unlikely.

Rosie O’Donnell, The View, rblog

The lines have been clearly drawn between those who support Elisabeth Hasselbeck and those who support Rosie O’Donnell.
Do you want to show your support for your favorite host, while also donating money to charity?

Now available: Team Rosie and Team Elisabeth T-shirts!

ALL PROFITS go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
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This morning’s episode of The View was preempted in favor of President Bush’s press conference. If ABC posts some clips of the show, I will put the links up. Anyone who watches in a different time zone, feel free to put any information on today’s episode in the comments.

The View, President Bush, Iraq

Here is a video from YouTube of Alicia Silverstone on The View on May 23rd. As I mentioned before, when she came onto the stage, she completely snubbed Elisabeth Hasselbeck, but then greeted the rest of the hosts. This interview came immediately after the extremely heated argument between Elisabeth and Rosie O’Donnell. The video also has short clips of the interviews with the other guests (Elizabeth Mitchell of Lost, Laila Ali, and Joey Fatone).

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Alicia Silverstone, video, youtube, Rosie O’Donnell, Elizabeth Mitchell, Lost, Laila Ali, Joey Fatone, Dancing with the Stars

There was more to today’s episode than the fight between Rosie O’Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Sherri Shepherd was back as guest host, although she did not get too much opportunity to speak today during the hot topics. She did say that she is back with her estranged husband who cheated on her. She revealed that a big part of the reason that she had filed for divorce was because he fathered a child with the other woman. Sherri decided, in part on advice from viewers who said that she should give him another chance, that she would be forgiving and give it another try. They attend marriage counseling three times a week and she is learning a lot about herself.

Alicia Silverstone appeared on the show to talk about her involvement with Silk soy milk and their green caps for energy promotion. If you purchase Silk soy milk with a green cap, go home and type the UPC code on their website, Silk will donate money to buy wind energy. Alicia has been vegan for almost nine years and became that way, in part, because she could never imagine eating her dog. She said that she doesn’t mind if people are vegetarian, but still wear leather, as long as they are doing something.

The most shocking part of her interview was when she first walked onto the stage and completely bypassed Elisabeth Hasselbeck before continuing on to warmly great the other three hosts. It was not a matter of Elisabeth not having her hand out, she clearly just snubbed her. Here is some photographic proof:

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After watching the entire argument between Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Rosie O’Donnell, it is pretty clear to me that it had very little, if anything, to do about politics or the war in Iraq. Rosie was extremely hurt by Elisabeth’s failure to back her up when the cable news shows were saying that she thinks the troops are terrorists. She considered Elisabeth to be her friend and someone who would have her back, even if it meant deviating from her party. Rosie was not upset with Elisabeth the Republican, but rather with Elisabeth the Friend. During the argument, Rosie pointed out that anytime that she said anything that hurt Elisabeth during the show, she went and apologized to her afterward. Elisabeth has not done that and that is the place Rosie was coming from.

Rosie’s financial support of wounded soldiers, as well as other things that she has done in support of the troops, is something that Elisabeth is well aware of. All Rosie wanted was for Elisabeth to say “No, I don’t think that you think the troops are terrorists.” She could have then gone on and said what she wanted about how it could be interpreted that way, etc. I have no doubt that Elisabeth does not honestly believe that Rosie thinks that our troops are terrorists. That is the reason why Rosie was upset. Not because Elisabeth did not agree with her, but, rather that she was not truthful about her own feelings.

Click for more, including a video.
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In an entry this afternoon on her blog labeled “Cease Fire,” Rosie wrote:

like it or not
tomorrow kelli turns 40
i will not be at work

This come after an response earlier today on the Ask-Ro section, where she wrote:

it may be time
to be done

endings r hard 4 all
emotions r high

talking is tough

Is Rosie just taking a day off to cool down and spend time with her wife or is she leaving The View for good? Her contract is not up until June 21, but I could imagine with the events of the last few days that she may try to come to some financial deal to be let out of it early.

UPDATE: Rosie posted this on her blog last night, in the Ask-Ro section:

Diane writes:

Rosie! Will you be back on The View? When?

no idea

Rosie O’Donnell, The View, rblog

Rosie O’Donnell and Elisabeth Hasselbeck got into another heated argument today. I think that Rosie and Elisabeth are both still angry from Monday’s fight and their anger is continuing to build because no apologies have been made since then. I am sure that if Rosie were not still under contract, that she leave the show already.

Full recap to come later. For now, check out this very edited video at TMZ.com.

Rosie O’Donnell, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, The View, Sherri Shepherd, Joy Behar, video, TMZ

Kassie DePaiva, from One Life to Live, sat in as guest host. She has an album out today called I Want to Love You. She has a ten-year-old son who wants to be a comedian. Her son was born deaf and wears cochlear implants and can now hear and speak.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck baked a cake with her two-year-old daughter Grace for the first time, for the nanny’s birthday. She said that Grace had such a sense of accomplishment and then wanted to eat the cake right away.

Rosie O’Donnell said that her wife Kelli’s 40th birthday party was last night. She left the party at 10:30, but Kelli didn’t get home until after 3:00 a.m. They stayed in the city last night, which was fortunate because Rosie didn’t wake up until 9:00 a.m., the time she is supposed to be at work.
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In her latest free verse writing in her blog, Rosie O’Donnell makes it clear that she is more than ready for her stint on The View to come to an end. She compares it to the last few weeks of high school, where you just want it to be over. In the first stanza she lists a series of statements that I assume people have made to her. It could have been comments that she received at her blog or it could have been people in “real life” at The View. Of course, as usual, her work is open to interpretation. Here is a portion of the entry. For the full thing, visit her blog.

i dont read ur stupid blog
u r insulting me
what will people think
goodbye is never easy

a senior in highschool
its sunny and i wanna stay home
be done
move on

remember the drama
yearbook signing
with bubble letters
and perfect hearts

dont ever change
i will miss u in homeroom
have a good summer
keep in touch

most people dont
its how life works
in the moment only
fully alive

The View, Rosie O’Donnell, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, rblog

Here is the latest edition of the Watching the View podcast.
If you have missed any previous episodes, they are all here.

On today’s episode:
Rosie in her last few weeks on the The View
The terrorism debate
The Daytime Emmy Awards

 

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