While Katie Couric’s Sept. 5 debut on the CBS Evening News became the news, Rosie O’Donnell bow at ABC’s daytime gabfest The View—which occurred on the same day—also made a few headlines of its own.
O’Donnell introduced herself by saying, ‘My name is Meredith Vieira, and welcome to The View,’ according to The Washington Post. Filling the moderator slot vacated in June by Vieira (who replaced Couric on NBC’s The Today Show, starting on Sept. 5 as well), O’Donnell received a standing ovation from the studio audience.
The show began its 10th season with O’Donnell joining the returning Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Barbara Walters. However, there were concerns that there would be friction between grande dame Walters and O’Donnell, especially after the former Queen of Nice blogged on her Web site that she ‘found myself/in the position/i loathe the most/powerless,’ after seeing the new show promos. O’Donnell also criticized talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey for not controlling Tom Cruise during the infamous couch-jumping episode, ContactMusic.com reported.
However, all seems to be fine. During the show, Walters asked ‘How long have we been on the air? Four minutes? How do you feel?’
‘Really excited to be here, and kind of ecstatic,’ O’Donnell responded.