O'Donnell-Trump spat spurs 'View' ratings

Show posts record numbers in 4th quarter

By MICHAEL LEARMONTH

NEW YORK -- Call it the Rosie Effect.

Rosie O'Donnell brought a brash unpredictability to "The View" and that translated into boffo ratings for the show, which finished the fourth quarter with its highest total viewer tally since its inception 10 years ago.

The show us up 13% in total viewers and 23% in women 18-49 over the fourth quarter last year, an unheard-of swing in daytime television where viewer habits are strong and ratings tend to stagnate.

The heat generated by O'Donnell put the once-moribund chatfest back into the headlines with edgy material and much-publicized feuds with Donald Trump and Kelly Ripa.

"The show is spontaneous; you're not sure what is going to happen next," said show creator Barbara Walters. "It's still 'The View' but Rosie is a strong personality."

Walters hired O'Donnell to replace the departing Meredith Vieira in September, and since then ratings have fed off a stream of O'Donnell-inspired controversies that have generated tabloid headlines.

"Love her or hate her, you can't not talk about her," said Bill Carroll, VP and director of programming at Katz Media Group. "When you have a daytime show that is in the papers and on every entertainment show--that's what you pray for."

The show averaged 3.3 million viewers in the fourth quarter, its highest-ever total viewer tally, as well as its highest-ever ratings in women 18-49, according to Nielsen Media Research.

That's a far cry from a year ago when ratings were on the wane and Walters and exec producer Bill Geddie faced the prospect of replacing both moderator Vieira, who ankled for "Today," and Star Jones, who had begun to test poorly in focus groups.

"It was a nine-year-old show and we knew it needed a jumpstart," said Geddie.

Now O'Donnell is entrenched as moderator, the network is ecstatic, and the pressure to replace Jones has dissipated, though Geddie expects a replacement to be named within a few months.

"There is no gun to our head on the issue," Geddie said. "We are looking at some people. Some are just stunt bookings to get a number."

The show, which runs mostly on ABC stations, and has been providing a bigger lead-in to midday local news, adding pressure on Disney to re-sign O'Donnell, who signed a one-year contract last summer.

Though Walters and the network would like to see "The View" remain a franchise that can outlive its hosts, ABC execs are under no illusions as to O'Donnell's value to the show.

"Rosie is a star player on this team; we picked her up as a free agent and we would like to keep her as long as possible," said ABC/Disney Daytime prexy Brian Frons.

While the Alphabet downplays the significance of the slugfests with Trump and others, they generate coverage in other media and dissemination on the web.

O'Donnell's spat with Trump devolved into a multi-platform shouting match on television and the web with "The View" benefiting every step of the way.

In the latest turn, Trump's 25-year-old daughter Ivanka showed up on "Today" to defend her father during an interview with Meredith Vieira, giving the show invaluable promotion to an audience likely to watch daytime TV.

ABC announced it will begin offering selected clips on the web and and on cell phones to help office-bound "View" fans keep abreast of the show.

Increasingly, its a high-wire act, where producers trust O'Donnell to take the conversations to the edge, without letting them go off a cliff.

Unlike the other co-hosts, O'Donnell doesn't wear an earpiece so producers can't speak to her during the show.

Walters was forced to read a statement clarifying some of O'Donnell's comments on Trump, which were made while Walters was away from the show. It's been four months and Walters and O'Donnell are still feeling each other out.

"We are dealing with a very strong personality so for Bill (Geddie) and I it is a learning experience," Walters said. "We've had to get used to her ways and she's had to get used to our ways."