Rosie to "The View"

Rosie O'Donnell is going to be announced today as the next co-host on ABC's "The View." Or so says the CBS radio newsperson who just called me for some sound bites.

It's probably a good fit. Rosie was clearly uncomfortable in the rather large spotlight that was cast on her 10 years ago, following the meteoric launch of her live daily talk show. This gives her a chance to return to daytime TV -- which she obviously loved on some levels, and it loved her back -- but without quite the level of intense fame that made it difficult for her to live her life as a gay mom. (No, I don't think anyone will stop watching "The View" because of her sexual orientation; wouldn't you have to stop watching all of daytime TV if you felt that strongly?)

So, does she step into Meredith Vieira's role as informal ringleader? My thought is that she does, and that Rosie will be just as capable a ringleader as Vieira, the difference being that while Meredith uses that controlled manner to control others, Rosie's more likely to use body language and her brassy personality to manage her co-hosts. No one else on "The View" has spent 1,500 hours on the air turning chaos into semi-orderly entertainment. Rosie O'Donnell has.  Seems like the ideal choice to me.