For 'The View,' The Bloom Is Off the Rosie

Yesterday on "The View," co-host Joy Behar joked: "You know who's going to be really sad? Donald Trump." She speculated that he was, as she spoke, on a ledge, saying, "How am I going to resuscitate 'The Apprentice' now?"

Trump was not on a ledge at the time. He was talking about O'Donnell on Fox News Channel.

"I am not surprised. . . . Rosie is a very self-destructive person; she's a loser by any standard. I mean, she's got nothing going for her," he said.

"Rosie made Barbara look like a fool. She made her look like her lap dog. Barbara's the happiest person in the world that Rosie has been fired."

Then there was the time Rosie leapt to the defense of singer Clay Aiken, who while filling in for Regis Philbin on the syndicated talker "Regis & Kelly," jokingly put his hand over Kelly Ripa's mouth to get a word in edgewise. When Ripa stared daggers, Aiken said, "Oh, I'm in trouble!" and she shot back, "No, I just don't know where that hand's been, honey," which Rosie blasted the next day on "The View" as a "homophobic remark."

Kelly insisted it was a reference to it being cold and flu season; Rosie got attacked for having outed Aiken, who has refused to publicly discuss his sexuality; and the Internet was soon humming with video of Kelly putting her hand over Rege's mouth more than once on the air. Good times.

Hey, and how about the time Rosie went after "American Idol" for broadcasting the lousy auditions of two young men, one of whom had participated in the Special Olympics? The other had very large eyes that, "Idol" judge Simon Cowell said after the guy had left the room, made him look like an animal known as a bush baby.

Rosie assailed, among other things, the humiliation of "people who are obviously not capable to make a decision on whether or not they're strong enough to handle national humiliation."

A rep for Special Olympics International told The TV Column "Idol" should be commended for giving one of its former athletes the opportunity to be seen on national TV getting the Simon Cowell treatment. And both men segued from their lousy auditions to appearances on ABC's own Jimmy Kimmel-hosted late-night show, among other programs.

More recently, this past Monday in fact, Rosie made headlines with cracks about News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch -- and more about The Donald -- that she made at the annual New York Women in Communications luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria.

"This is a celebration of women who changed the world and no one understands why Rupert Murdoch is on the dais," Rosie joked, according to news reports. She added: "I mean that in the kind, loving [New York] Post-like way, sir; it's delightful to see you in person."

Rosie's move yesterday was not entirely unexpected. There had been reports she was interested in having her own talk show, as she did from '96 through 2002, and had been tickled by feelers coming from the direction of Warner Bros., which produced "The Rosie O'Donnell Show."