LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) — Rosie O’Donnell may be leaving her talk show at the end of this season, but the future is nevertheless looking rosy for the popular — and sometimes controversial — program.
In a bid to keep the “Oprah” alternative alive after Rosie’s departure, Telepictures Productions, which makes the show, said last summer that actress-comedian Caroline Rhea was being tapped to take over as host.
But the fate of the new show — tentatively titled “The Caroline Rhea Show” — remained in limbo until this week, when Telepictures said that eight key ABC affiliates that currently carry “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” have agreed to take the revamped version with Rhea. Stations that have agreed to carry the show include ABC affiliates in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Houston.
The series also has been sold in several other major markets, including Phoenix, San Diego, Kansas City and Las Vegas. A Telepictures spokesman said the company is hoping to secure similar commitments from stations in Los Angeles and Chicago in the next few days.
Rhea has already made numerous appearances as guest host on “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” this year.
Telepictures president Jim Paratore likened the change to the passing of the baton from Jack Parr to Johnny Carson on NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” and then Carson’s passing of the torch to current host Jay Leno.
“With ‘The Rosie O’Donnell Show,’ we have created a franchise format that doesn’t exist anywhere else in syndication,” Paratore said in a statement. “We think that Caroline Rhea will continue the advertiser-friendly franchise that Rosie started five successful years ago.”
Rhea will take over a show that became one of the first to successfully challenge the dominance of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” show on afternoon television.
While “Oprah” went after the more staid crowd with her mix of segments on women’s and lifestyle issues, Rosie, a strong children’s advocate, created a lighter show in which she teased her guests and often poked fun at herself.
But O’Donnell, a gun-control advocate, also generated controversy when she challenged actor Tom Selleck to defend his pro-gun stance in what Selleck later called an unfair attack during his 1999 appearance on her show.
The Canadian-born Rhea, meanwhile, is a comedian perhaps best known for her regular appearances on the current rendition of the TV game show “Hollywood Squares” and her role on the WB television series ” Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” where she plays Aunt Hilda.
