Rosie O'Donnell to land primetime show on MSNBC?
November 6, 2007

As MSNBC rides a wave of increasing ratings for left-leaning shows such as Countdown With Keith Olbermann, the television network has announced that they intend to skew their primetime schedule towards viewers who oppose the Bush Administration. The biggest acknowledgement that MSNBC would take a politically left-leaning approach to their evening programming came after two NBC execs noted that they had talked to Rosie O'Donnell about launching her own evening show on the network.

From a ratings perspective, it seems to be an obvious choice to try to land Rosie O'Donnell for such a position. O'Donnell held a top-rated afternoon talk show for years, and during her nine-month stint on The View, ratings reached an all-time high for the series which has been on the air for more than a decade. During her tumultuous time on The View, Rosie O'Donnell often advocated left-leaning views as she bashed the mounting casualties in Iraq and sparred with her right-leaning co-host, Elisabeth Hasselbeck.

According to the New York Times, MSNBC is currently investigating the potential to have Rosie O'Donnell land a weeknight series in the 9 p.m. EST time slot. That would mean the outspoken liberal would compete with Larry King Live on CNN and Hannity & Colmes on the right-leaning Fox News Network. But as things stand, MSNBC currently has a full line-up op popular primetime shows. Chris Matthews starts things off at 7 p.m. with Hardball, which flows into Keith Olbermann's show, and ends with Live With Dan Abrams at 9 p.m. The weak link in the line-up would have to be Tucker, hosted by Tucker Carlson at 6 p.m., which the Times said an NBC exec claimed was in legitimate danger of being canned.

No deals have yet been put in place for Rosie O'Donnell to join MSNBC. As it stands now, the network hasn't even made an official statement on the subject, as all comments have been made under the shroud of anonymity. While Rosie would undoubtedly become a huge boost for the network in terms of a high-profile celebrity with an ability to draw ratings, her previous controversies have caused several PR headaches for networks that have hired her in the past. Though on a news network, in direct competition with both CNN and Fox News, perhaps a little controversy is exactly what they are looking for.