O'Donnell, the opinionated moderator of Barbara Walters' ABC gabfest, told viewers Tuesday that she would step down at the end of her first season in late June, after ABC sought a longer commitment than she wanted.
"My needs for the future just didn't dovetail with what ABC was able to offer me," O'Donnell said in a statement. On air she told viewers: "They wanted three years, I wanted one. … It just didn't work."
She didn't elaborate, but sources among the syndicators who would distribute such a show say O'Donnell is considering a plan to revive her solo daytime gig, probably in fall 2008. Meantime, ABC must scramble to fill two seats: The show is left with Walters, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar. Star Jones Reynolds left last year but wasn't replaced.
As part of her View deal, ABC's Buena Vista is said to have first rights to negotiate for a solo O'Donnell show. But Warner Bros.' TelePictures, which was behind her previous show, is keenly interested, says a top executive who asked for anonymity because of sensitive negotiations.
O'Donnell made no mention of her plans in discussing her departure on The View . "She doesn't know what she wants to do right now," says her publicist, Cindi Berger.
Her View exit was "a little bit of a surprise," says Katz Television Group analyst Bill Carroll. "The conventional wisdom was she was going to stay on the show next year and then go off and do her own thing."
O'Donnell, who replaced Today -bound Meredith Vieira, helped boost ratings 17% this season, The View 's 10th, to 3.5 million viewers.
"She put it back on the front page (with) backstage squabbles and being a lightning rod for controversial discussion," Carroll says.
O'Donnell sparred with Hasselbeck, had a lengthy feud with Donald Trump and made headlines with her liberal stances.
"I am sad because I induced you to come here," Walters said on Wednesday's show. "I hoped it would be more than one year. We have had, to say the least, an interesting year."
O'Donnell promised to return as a guest host. She also might return as a guest on FX's Nip/Tuck , though the cable network dismissed rumors she'd star in a spinoff. It's expected a new talk show would focus on issues rather than the celebrities who dominated her 1996-2002 run.
Contributing: Karen Thomas, Ann Oldenburg
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