Rosie O’Donnell returns to TV this fall with “The Rosie Show” on OWN, and the talk show star promises it will be a whole new experience for viewers.
“There will be a famous guest, maybe once a show, or sprinkled throughout. It’s not going to be the same kind of show that I did before, where somebody has a movie to promote and they come in and they do seven minutes,” Rosie told Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson at the Television Critics Association Summer 2011 Session in Beverly Hills on Friday.
“It’s going to be much of a hanging out, loose, non-promotional kind of thing,” she continued. “Let’s say we have Cyndi Lauper come in, she’ll maybe sing a song. She’ll hang out with me and talk and we’ll maybe do a little something together. Then we’ll have the audience ask questions, we’ll have a game.”
Rosie also broke news to Shaun that her show will air in nighttime instead of daytime.
“We’re on at 7 PM at night, in order to promote all the great stuff they have coming up on OWN. We’re going to be your entree into the nighttime lineup,” she said. “It will totally change the show… It’s not a time where we want to sort of hit [the audience] with hard topics,” the star explained. “We’re going to give you a little entertainment, a little fun, a little humor, a little hangout party stuff.”
Her new talk show will also have a reality show element that will be featured as a separate show on OWN.
“There’s going to be a reality show part of my show,” Rosie told Shaun. “Where we’re going to be featuring the cast and the making of, during the actual show.”
The mother of four will also be trying out a new family dynamic, now that she will be based out of Chicago four days a week.
”[My son Parker] is going away to a school, starting in August. My daughter Chelsea will be living with me, she’s 14, in Chicago, the two little ones [Blake and Vivienne] will be with Kelli,” she said referring to ex Kelli Carpenter, whom she split with in 2007. “I’m going to commute Monday to Thursday and then I’ll have them on the weekend.”
As for her return to TV, Rosie told Shaun that’s she excited and honored to be working with an icon like Oprah Winfrey.
“Since I was 25 years old, this woman has been inspirational and really a prominent figure in my psyche,” she explained. “This is the first time that we get to work together and it’s something that I wanted to do for decades.”
Adding, “If you have to go back in the game with an Oprah Winfrey jersey on, I’m pretty happy, because I totally believe in her.”
“The Rosie Show” debuts on October 10 at 7 PM ET/PT on OWN.
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