NEW YORK — Rosie O’Donnell, who famously clashed with a co-host on “The View,” is close to being her own boss again.
The acid-tongued talk show host whose dispute with Elisabeth Hasselbeck hastened her departure from ABC’s daytime gabfest is reportedly in negotiations to host a primetime talk show on MSNBC five days a week.
An NBC executive familiar with the discussions confirmed the two sides had talked, but cautioned that “we’re far from a done deal.” The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were ongoing.
The cable news channel owned by NBC Universal would not officially comment on the discussions. A spokesman for O’Donnell could not be reached for comment.
The reports, which first surfaced in the New York Times, suggested O’Donnell would take over the 9 p.m. slot currently occupied by “Live with Dan Abrams.” That would put her show in competition with CNN’s “Larry King Live” and Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes.”
Fox News dominates primetime ratings for cable news channels, averaging 1.5 million viewers this year, according to Nielsen data. MSNBC is a distant third with 505,000, behind CNN’s 755,000.
O’Donnell hosted her own daytime talk show from 1996-2002. She also produced a Broadway musical and founded a short-lived, namesake magazine before her tempestuous run on “The View.” Although she was there for less than a year before leaving in May, her boisterous, opinionated style was credited with boosting the show’s ratings.
Shortly before joining the multi-host show created by Barbara Walters, O’Donnell had blogged that “it will be hard 4 me 2 not b the boss.” Now she’s set to reclaim center stage as her own.
