What the media is so afraid to say because they’re scared to death of Oprah’s long reach, and vindictiveness is that the Oprah brand is shot because she gave her stamp of approval to Barack Obama’s run for president.
Ever since then, her ratings have tanked. So do you think Rosie O’Donnell will really help her brand any?
The New York Post is reporting that the morning after hosting a 49th birthday dinner for President Barack Obama at a gourmet Chicago restaurant, Oprah Winfrey made the move that will -- at least for the near future -- be the trademark of her new cable network.
She put Rosie O'Donnell back on daytime TV.
The deal -- in which Oprah will share ownership of Rosie's show -- effectively gives over afternoons on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network, to the unpredictable O'Donnell.
The deal, announced late last week, caught the entertainment business by surprise -- not the least because OWN has not had much good news to talk about in recent months.
Earlier in the week, the Discovery channel -- Oprah's money partner on the new network -- reported to investors that OWN had burned through $75 million of the anticipated $100 million start-up costs -- without a great deal to show for it.
In the TV business, where nothing stays quiet for long, the most startling thing was that it had been kept a secret.
"Believe me, it was not easy for me to do," Rosie wrote over the weekend on her Web site, rosie.com.
"Not telling is not my strong suit."
The Oprah-Rosie deal was a marriage of convenience for both sides. O'Donnell said she wanted to return to daytime soon after Oprah announced she was quitting her show after 25 years.
Despite her track record as a ratings-getter, Rosie could not convince local TV stations to take her back after the fiery ending she had on "The View."
Oprah, meanwhile, was having difficulty developing enough new shows for a brand new network. Worse, most of the new shows were from unknowns.
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