Rosie Finally Takes Her View and Walks

It was announced this afternoon that Rosie O'Donnell will not be returning to The View after this season. According to news reports, Rosie was unable to come to an agreement on her contract. She said that she would be coming back as a guest host in the future. This raises a lot of questions about the background behind this dispute in her contract.

On yesterday's show, she previewed an upcoming show that will be aired on the LOGO network of gay skits. The skit that was aired showed a "pocket" gay guy who was a companion to a heterosexual woman. He was offering to help her with her wardrobe and reminded her that she did not need a boyfriend because "You have me!" Rosie introduced the preview as her new show, so one can only assume that she's stepping over to a target market where she will be more accepted.

Also on yesterday's show, she discussed the fact that the annual gay cruise that her partner, Kelly, had coordinated had been forced to change their destination. The cruise is not restricted to gay people, but it is primarily for gay people and their families to provide a vacation environment where they don't have to deal with the usual criticism that gays sometimes encounter. The original destination was the island of Bermuda. Last year, the cruise was very successful when it docked in Key West, a community known for its large gay population. However, when it docked in the Bahamas, there were protesters from four Bahamian churches expressing their disapproval of homosexuality and it caused a little commotion for the vacationers on the cruise.

Rosie announced yesterday that she had been notified that members of 80 churches on the island of Bermuda planned to turn out at the dock to protest the cruise coming to their island. Although a government official had notified the coordinators of the cruise that they were welcome, there was concern over the safety of the vacationers if there was a large protest. Another concern was the effect it would have on the children that were with their gay family members. So, Bermuda will lose out of the tourist dollars and the destination of the cruise has been changed to someplace in Florida, probably Key West.

It was apparent that Rosie was somewhat saddened by this turn of events, but she perked up when she showed the preview of her new show. The impression was that she was going to be very involved in that project, and the language and portrayal of the "pocket gay" did not exactly fit the mainstream audience. This may have been one step too far for Rosie.

She's been testing the networks almost daily with her political rants, tantrums, and abuse of Elisabeth, the one Republican on the panel who can barely get a word in to defend another "view," which supposedly was the premise of the show when it originated. Initially you could tune in and hear several different perspectives on a topic. That is no longer the case. With Meredith Viera, the voice of reason, gone to the Today Show, Rosie is the moderator and she takes the role a step further. During her time in that role, the show could have been renamed "Rosie's View." The others are there just to fill the seats and provide occasional humor from Joy Behar.

Donald Trump, you predicted this was coming and you were right. One thing Rosie had right, though, The Donald needs a new hair stylist!