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So how was Rosie O'Donnell's return to television Monday?
O'Donnell, whose daytime talk show ended four years ago, entered The View's new set to wild applause and sat in Meredith Vieira's old seat, sliding easily into the moderator role.
Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and O'Donnell gabbed about summer vacations. There was no mention of Star Jones, who was fired and left abruptly soon after O'Donnell was hired. When Walters stopped the conversation to ask whether they needed to make an introduction, O'Donnell cracked, "My name is Meredith Vieira, and welcome to The View."
She also told the camera at one point, "Don't worry, I've taken my medication." (O'Donnell has been outspoken about her battle with depression.) Immediately Behar asked her, "Does your friend Tom Cruise know that?"
O'Donnell has always been a big Tom Cruise fan and often talked about him on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. O'Donnell said Cruise, who has been vocal about being anti-psychiatry, sent her the huge bouquet of flowers sitting in front of the table.
When O'Donnell was last on television, she didn't talk about being a lesbian, and her persona was so friendly Newsweek put her on the cover 10 years ago with a headline that read "The Queen of Nice."
It was a much bawdier O'Donnell ruling the View roost Tuesday. When the topic of marriage came up (Behar announced that her daughter is engaged), O'Donnell said she plans to wed only once. Wasn't her same-sex California marriage to Kelli Carpenter invalidated, one of the co-hosts asked? "Yeah, so maybe we'll have to do it twice," she answered, adding, "We'll get to that -- but not on the first day." And then she pointed to herself and mouthed the word "lesbian."
When the topic turned to blogging, O'Donnell shrugged off reports that Walters doesn't like her free-form online writing: "She doesn't know how to get on Internet Explorer. What are they talking about?"
Within the first two minutes of a Jessica Simpson interview, O'Donnell asked about the People magazine cover that quotes Simpson as saying "I'm in love!" The singer replied: "I am not dating John Mayer. He's my friend."
Then throughout much of the Simpson chat, Walters, O'Donnell and Hasselbeck talked over each other, barely allowing Simpson to say anything. O'Donnell, at one point, promised Walters she wouldn't interrupt her.
In true O'Donnell form, the show had to give something away to the audience, a signature of her old show. The View audience got a two-day cruise and a Jessica Simpson CD. O'Donnell got a cake with her face on it, wheeled out by Simpson.
And what did critics think?
People's Tom Gliatto said the tone of the show without a Star Jones voice "may be out of whack." Vinay Menon of the Toronto Star called it "ho-hum." Gina Serpe of E! online said it was "low-key." And Gawker.com cracked, "The only excitement is just in seeing Rosie O'Donnell sitting there with nice hair and makeup."
Contributing: Whitney Matheson
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