These days, it always amazes me when the bigger pop stars sit down for an interview with Oprah, as if Oprah is still “a thing” when (clearly) very few poople watch OWN, and the network itself is shuttling steadily towards its own impending doom. But alas, now Rihanna has done an interview, which was conducted in RiRi’s own native Barbados, with O; and of course, the subject of Chris Brown came up. At one point, Rihanna also says, “I’m super-duper afraid of the pedestal that comes with fame,” which is just more of the same crap Rihanna always says about learning to ignore the attention while she has one finger on the mouse to post her latest batch of bikini and boozing photos on Twitter and Facebook.

Anyway, I don’t mean to make light of the fact that Chris Brown beat the living hell out of his girlfriend three ago, but I do find it strange that Rihanna characterizes the incident as, “I lost my best friend.” She’s still very conflicted about what happened, right?

Rihanna broke into tears about Chris Brown in a recent interview with Oprah.

Turns out not even Oprah can end an interview with Rihanna without asking the singer about Chris Brown. In promo clips for an upcoming interview, the “Rude Boy” singer is seen crying after the TV host asks her about her relationship with Brown, who brutally assaulted her in 2009.

“It was embarrassing,” Rihanna said. “It was humiliating. I lost my best friend. I was resentful. I held a grudge. I was dark.”

Her interactions with Brown continue to set the tabloid world on fire. Rumors that the two had begun dating again were bolstered by her decision to release his-and-her remixes they collaborated on. Rihanna appeared on the remix to his “Turn Up the Music,” and Brown provided a sex-laced verse on the “Birthday Cake” remix.

The TV legend said she had expected Rihanna to be an edgy “badass,” but found that the 24-year-old singer defied all her expectations.

Oprah and Rih also chatted about the singer’s native Barbados, where the interview took place. The full conversation airs on OWN during “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” at 9 pm on Sunday, August 19th.

[From HuffPo]

Meanwhile, the battle over Rihanna’s finances continues unabated. In 2009, there were whisperings that Rihanna was actually broke (to the tune of only having $20,000 because allegedly, she was “not properly funded by her record label Def Jam“). Then last year, Rihanna reportedly listed her mansion as a “short sale” on the market. Now RiRi has sued her former accountants for taking too high of a commission (which she agreed to beforehand) as well as “mismanag[ing] her dough and fail[ing] to inform her that her 2009 “Last Girl on Earth” tour was losing cash.” Honestly? I obviously don’t know the entire situation, but it sounds like RiRi’s accountants tried to warn her years ago, and Rihanna basically ignored them. Also, exactly where does Jay-Z (as her manager) figure into this huge mess, hmm?

Photos courtesy of OWN

I actually have OWN, Oprah’s failing network, on DirectTV, but I never watch it. Whenever I’m flipping through the channels, it seems like OWN is just doing a marathon of some unfortunate reality show in which some overweight person is sobbing hysterically (tell me that doesn’t describe half of all reality shows). But as you might know, Oprah has her own show on OWN called “Oprah’s Next Chapter”. She does sit-down interviews (with the Kardashians, notably) and she travels and documents things and it’s pretty much an extension of her old syndicated show, only there’s no audience and no giveaways. I guess. I haven’t seen it. Anyway, over the weekend, Oprah’s Next Chapter aired an episode focused on Oprah’s travels to India several months ago for the Jaipur Literature Festival – and while she was in-country, she filmed a “This is what India is like now” episode. And Indians are PISSED.

Oprah Winfrey charmed her Indian audience when she came to the country earlier this year on a tour that included a brief appearance at the Jaipur Literature Festival. But now the show she was working on has aired, the spell appears to have broken.

The smell of incense (tick), the sari fitting (tick), the aspirations of slum dwellers (tick), and the glitz of Bollywood (tick). Let’s not forget arranged marriages and the fact that Indians, even rich ones, “still” eat with their hands (tick, tick).

India as Westerners imagine it, one stereotype at a time.

This is how many in India responded to the two India-focused episodes of her primetime series “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” which aired over the weekend. In India, the people she interacted with ranged from a family of five living in a 10-foot-by-10-foot room in a Mumbai slum, to Bollywood aristocracy, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. While her show mainly targets a mainstream American audience, many criticized Ms. Winfrey for choosing to project such a caricaturized image of India to the world.

“The avg American thinking of India as a place with snake charmers and elephants as main mode of transport, I can understand. But Oprah???” said user Nandita Iyer on Twitter.

“Honestly, this Oprah winfrey has made such a royal fool of herself with this,” she added. “An unflattering, outmoded, selective and clichéd representation” of India, is how one commentator, Gargi Gupta, described the first episode of the television show.

Camera shots of “roadside cows chomping on garbage and roads choked with traffic,” are just some aspects of the show that Ms. Gupta said may make Indian viewers “groan.”

The show wasn’t a complete write-off for Ms. Gupta, however. She found Ms. Winfrey’s approach tactful when she asked slum dwellers about their hopes and fears. “It suggests a respect for human sensitivities that television anchors in India… would do well to learn,” she writes in a piece published in the Business Standard.

Not all were so kind. For Rajyasree Sen, the show didn’t have a single redeeming feature.

“Myopic, unaware, ignorant and gauche. This was Middle America at its best worst,” wrote Ms. Sen of the show’s first episode in a column on Firstpost.

She found Ms. Winfrey’s comment on Indians still eating with their hands particularly offensive. “I don’t know what people in America are eating their hot dogs, pizzas and tacos with but perhaps Oprah’s home has evolved cutlery for all that,” she writes.

Many on Twitter agreed. “You still eat with your hands? – The shocking arrogance of a clueless rich woman,” wrote Aseem Chhabra.

In her criticism of Oprah’s slum tour, Ms. Sen takes it a little far. She slams the talk-show star for avoiding “any mention of the massive LCD TV” which adorned the tiny home. “That would have killed the sob story,” she adds. (The message here seems they are poor but not that poor we should be feeling sorry for them.)

[From The Wall Street Journal]

Eh. I haven’t seen it, and while it does seem like Oprah was focusing on the “stereotypical” images of India (the slums, Bollywood, saris), a lot of India is actually like that. Like America, India has an extremely diverse and pluralistic culture. It’s not all Riki Tiki Tavi, beggars and the Taj Mahal. There’s a growing (and thriving) middle class, lots of Westerners, Asians and Middle Easterners living and working in the major cities, and a huge, American-esque income disparity between the richest and the poorest. But yes, saris! Snakes! Eating with your hands! I don’t get why that one is a big deal – is that even a stereotype about Indians? We eat with our hands? Some foods are meant to be eaten with your hands. Is that a big deal? Whatever, Opes.

Photos courtesy of Oprah, WENN.

Whenever I think of Kelly Preston, I remember the nonsense she spouted during her first interview after she gave birth to son Benjamin, who turns two in late November. Kelly is 49, and I don’t believe the conspiracy theories about how she didn’t carry Benjamin. I think the reality for Kelly is that she lives deep in denial in the bowels of Scientology and she’s so suppressed her “reactive mind” that she doesn’t have one of her own. The lady sounded completely brainwashed to me. (Watch the video and/or read what I wrote on this last year if you’d like more background.)

While countless masseurs, employees and random men have come forward with stories of being sexually assaulted by John Travolta, I believe that Kelly willfully kept herself in the dark and that she decided to believe his explanations when the issue came up. After all, her “religion” discourages critical thinking at all costs. She is not used to questioning anything, and she’s been living under that set of rules for decades. Even if her old friend Nicole Kidman offered her an exit strategy from her marriage, I doubt she’ll take it.

All that is preface to this story from the National Enquirer about how Kelly is considering accepting Oprah Winfrey’s offer for a family reality show on the OWN network. She reportedly thinks it will go a long way toward convincing the public of the happy family image she has of her life with John, when he’s not disappearing for trips to the spa. We heard that Oprah is gunning for a famous family to have a reality show on her flailing network, and that she’s approached Travolta, Will Smith and Tom Cruise. If Kelly has her way, the Travoltas might just accept the offer. Here’s more, thanks to Mike Walker in the National Enquirer, who broke this story:

Embattled Kelly Preston – devastated by the avalanche of allegations that hubby John’s gay… yet still desperate to somehow save her beloved family – told pals she’s now a definite “maybe!” Said a source: “John has a thick skin when it comes to these gay headlines, but Kelly suddenly realized that bringing cameras into their home might be the perfect way to show that she and John are a real husband and wife in a tight-knit, loving family. But while Kelly’s gung ho on the idea, she’s having a hard time convincing John – who’s refusing to have his private family life viewed under a microscope.” Kelly still harbors doubts about whether a reality show would be good for her family, but she’s wavering, so stay tuned!

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker's column, June 25, 2012]

John has the right idea, and I get the feeling that Kelly goes along with whatever he wants. This isn’t a Dina Eastwood situation. R

Meanwhile there’s been all sorts of news about Travolta. We heard last week that he had a six year affair in the 80s with a male pilot, whose ex lover came out publicly with the story. Travolta’s former secretary also confirmed the story on the record. The Enquirer [via Radar] is reporting that John’s ex, the pilot, is ready to tell all with a memoir, and that he’s fielding offers now. They speculate that this could be the last straw for Kelly, but I would imagine she’s had plenty of last straws.

Also, do you remember how there was drama when two of Travolta’s accusers fired their lawyer and defected to Gloria Allred? The original lawyer, Okorie Okorocha, is suing Allred for poaching his clients. In new court documents he alleges that he was close to reaching a settlement between one of his clients and Travolta’s camp. The stipulation in the settlement was that Travolta’s name would never be used, and that there would be a stiff non-disclosure agreement attached to the money. Of course.

These event photos are from 1-14-12. Credit: WENN.com. They’re also shown on 4-25-12. Credit: FameFlynet, Inc.

Here’s some photos of Oprah in New York City in early April to promote her OWN Network. Just the fact that Oprah was hitting the talk show promotional trail is a sure sign of panic because Oprah never had to promote her own show. For decades, people went to Oprah to promote their own crap, you know? Now Oprah’s in their shoes and scrambling to save OWN, which has been a disaster from nearly day one with terrible ratings and Discovery quickly learning that their supposedly brilliant acquisition was quickly transforming into a money pit.

Just in the past year, the signs have been pointing towards OWN’s imminent demise. First Oprah begged Nielsen viewers to watch her flailing network, and then Oprah bitchfought with Rosie O’Donnell over the latter’s cancelled show. Then Oprah offered Rosie’s slot to Wynonna Judd, who told her to shove it, and it was later revealed that Oprah offered reality shows to John Travolta, Will Smith, and Tom Cruise, all of whom were decidedly not interested. Now the Enquirer has a story about Oprah being demoted and stripped of her decisionmaking powers at OWN, where she remains CEO in name only. Uh-oh:

In one of the most humiliating developments of her legendary career, Oprah Winfrey has been stripped of executive powers at her struggling OWN network. The media mogul was reduced to tears when her chief financial backer decided to curtail her control over the network she had worked her fingers to the bone to launch, say sources.

As ratings sputtered and hundreds of millions of dollars spiraled down the drain, execs at Discovery Communications, which co-owns the Oprah Winfrey Network, made the strategic move in a desperate, eleventh-hour bid to save it. While Oprah retains her titles of CEO, it’s in name only, revealed an insider.

Oprah had exercised complete control over OWN since its launch in January 2011, and Discovery bigwigs supported her even as it turned into a financial disaster.

“They now realize that she was too inexperienced to run the network,” said the insider. “So she was stripped of her power. She’s no longer in a position to make executive decisions or hire staff without consulting top Discovery executive first.”

After getting the bombshell news in a closed-door meeting, Oprah “came out feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of her,” said the insider. “For Oprah, this is a bitter personal failure and a devastating blow to her ego. The unexpected demotion has sent her into an emotional tailspin so severe that friends are deeply concerned for her. They fear it could trigger one of drinking and eating binges.

As The ENQUIRER reported in our May 21 issue, Oprah has turned to alcohol more and more as OWN tanks, and she’s recently taken to doing shots of tequila!

[From Enquirer, print edition, June 9, 2012]

Surely, this is not the beginning of the end for OWN but perhaps the middle of the end for the network, and it’s only a matter of time. Sure, it’s gotta be a major blow to Oprah’s ego to realize that she doesn’t truly rule the television world, but I honestly don’t see why she didn’t just retire after ending her own show. There’s still time to do that, of course, but I doubt she’ll truly give up until OWN is officially put out of its misery by Discovery.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

A couple of weeks ago, the news came out that Oprah’s flailing OWN network was hemorrhaging money to the tune of an estimated $312 million in debt. OWN is still hanging in there, but barely. Businessweek quoted a media analyst who said that OWN may go down as the “most successful failure in television today.” Oprah has plead with Nielson viewers to watch her channel, and now she’s pleading with her A-list friends to help her out. According to Mike Walker’s column in the National Enquirer, Oprah has approached Scientologists John Travolta, Will Smith, Kirstie Alley and Tom Cruise about potentially starring in reality shows on OWN. Wynonna Judd wouldn’t even helm a talk show with Oprah, so she’s delusional if she thinks any of these guys are going to take her up on her offer. Maybe she’s calling in some favor she did them by never questioning them about their Scientology Cult. That’s the subtext I’m getting from this story.

Finally realizing C-listers like Rosie O’Donnell ain’t gonna save her OWN sinking ship, Oprah Winfrey’s seen the light and… reached out for divine intervention for her gone-to-hell network from her closest A-list pals on the “S-List” – Scientologists Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, plus super-Scientology friendly Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. Sources say Oprah combed desperately through her heavy hitter list, and the first she called were Scientologist pals John Travolta and Tom Cruise. “Oprah pitched John on the idea of doing a reality series that would focus on him and Kelly Preston raising their new baby,” the source says. “They she phoned Tom, wondered if wife Katie Holmes might be interested in doing a fashion and shopping show.” But so far, all Oprah’s got is: “We’ll think about it!” and she’s becoming desperate.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, May 28, 2012]

The Enquirer gets a lot of insider information on Oprah, so I believe this. We know how well a reality show with John Travolta would go over given his very publicized legal problems for abusing masseurs and various men. Maybe he would welcome it as a way to continue his happy family facade. Kirstie Alley would probably jump at this, though, as her Lifetime show was DOA.

Oprah’s “reality shows” aren’t of the Bravo and E! variety, they’re more of the documentary “day in the life” type. I’ve only seen Shania Twain’s show on OWN, and it was incredibly boring. So I doubt these guys would have much to lose by opening up their lives for one-off Oprah specials, except for the fact that they would be associated with a reality show even if it’s not a typical one. They’re not going to take her up on it. It’s got to be hard for Oprah to realize that her celebrity friends are mostly fair weather ones.

Oprah is shown in NY on 4-2-12. Credit: Hall/Pena, PacificCoastNews.com

These photos of Demi are from September and January. Lainey Gossip has the latest photos of her

I don’t know when I became such a Demi Moore advocate, but I’ve felt a little protective of her these past few months after she had her hospitalization and rehab stint. She got cheated on publicly and she seemed so frail (literally) and lost following her separation. Of course Demi needs to put on her big girl britches and realize that her time as the sexy freewheeling chick has long since passed. She’s had a hard time coping with her divorce. It’s understandable. Hopefully she’s now sober, coming to terms with her life, and no long partying with her daughter.

There are several stories about Demi in the tabloids this week. First off is this gem in Star which claims that Demi has reached out to Oprah for help, after hearing from Jennifer Aniston how much Oprah helped her through her divorce with Brad Pitt. Oprah has allegedly answered the call in exchange for Demi’s first post-rehab interview. It’s not a bad strategy for either of them. I like that Demi is leaning on a non-denominational self help guru instead of continuing to turn to her scamming cult for support. This may be total bunk, though, because we just saw Demi at the launch party for her friend Amanda de Cadenet’s Lifetime talkshow, which she’s executive producing. So if she does talk to someone for the first time, it will probably be Amanda. (The preview of the show doesn’t feature Demi though.) Here’s some of the story from Star.

“Demi needs a strong mentor, so she reached out to Oprah a few days after leaving rehab, and they’ve been in touch ever since,” a source tells Star. “Demi never forgot that Jennifer Aniston told her Oprah was a godsend in helping her after she divorced Brad Pitt.

The newfound friendship could benefit Oprah too, by giving her struggling OWN network a much-needed boost. “Demi promises that when she’s ready, she will give Oprah her first postrehab, post-divorce interview,” explains the source. In return, “Oprah has said she’ll find her a job at the network.

“They’re always on the phone, chatting about everything from love-life woes to religion to their careers.”

[From Star Magazine, print edition, April 30, 2012]

Is Demi going to get a show on OWN? Maybe Oprah will throw her a docu-reality about her triumphant self-awareness campaign after her divorce, like she did with Shania Twain. I watched about 20 minutes of the six-hour series and it was a snoozefest.

Meanwhile, Mike Walker in the National Enquirer claims that Demi is so hung up on Ashton she’s really floundering. She supposedly believes he’s still loves her, and that she just needs to have the right strategy to win him back. We’ve heard this about Demi before, many times, and I just hope that if this was the case that she’s getting help and moving forward.

“When Demi told worried friends that she absolutely believes Ashton’s still in love with her, and asked for advice on how to win him back, they realized she’s hopelessly addicted and obsessed with her ex,” said a close friend of the couple. “Everyone pleaded with her to seek professional help, and face the cold, hard fact that they’ll never be a couple again!” Incredibly, Demi’s even been begging her serial-cheater ex to enter couple’s therapy with her – and told him she’s desperately sorry she jumped the gun and filed for divorce so quickly. “But while Ashton’s supportive of Demi getting her life back together, he told her he’s NOT interested in trying to repair their broken relationship,” said the source. Demi, of course, was devastated.

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, Mike Walker's column, April 30, 2012]

Finally, Radar has a story on Demi Moore’s “ravaged looks” that just makes me sigh. I think she got some fillers and/or Botox recently – her face looks lopsided and this is a very insecure woman we’re talking about. But I don’t think it’s fair to state it so very bluntly and to conclude that she’s ruined her looks forever. (Which they don’t state outright, to be fair.) She’s 49, she’s not going to look the same as she did 20 years ago no matter what she does. That’s normal, but she would look better with a little added weight, and it looks like she’s headed there.

Demi still hasn’t changed her Twitter handle from @mrskutcher. She recently tweeted that all the good names were taken.

Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network has been flailing for quite some time, and after Rosie O’Donnell was supposed to be the big rainmaker and savior for all concerned, extremely poor ratings resulted in Oprah’s cancellation of Rosie’s show, which launched a major bitchfight for the ages. This week’s issue of The Enquirer has a story about Oprah scrambling to find a replacement for Rosie. Reportedly, O has formally extended an offer to Wynonna Judd as a talk show host. In response, Wynonna has told Oprah to shove it somewhere not-so-nice:

How do you like them apples, Oprah? Wynonna Judd has snubbed Oprah Winfrey’s offer of a talk show and The ENQUIRER learned why.

The country superstar is still ticked at the TV titan for promising her the same gig on her network last year, and handing it to Rosie O’Donnell instead, sources say.

“Wynonna simply gave Oprah a taste of her own medicine, and Oprah didn’t like it!” said the insider. “Oprah, on the other hand, feels that Wynonna is an ingrate after she gave her and her mom Naomi a big break.”

Last April and May, Oprah’s network, OWN, aired the six-part reality series “The Judds,” which followed the mother-daughter duo on their reunion concert tour. During the series, the two shared never-before revealed secrets with each other, including the fact that both had been molested as children.

“Oprah loved the show,” said the insider. “But she was most impressed with Wynonna, and started discussions with Wy about hosting her own talk show! Wynonna was thrilled and started putting her own music projects on hold. Then Rosie agreed to do a talk show for OWN, and Oprah quickly forgot about Wynonna — who was crushed.”

Oprah just canceled Rosie’s flop of a show, but now it’s Oprah’s turn to be rejected.

“Wynonna told Oprah she’s too busy right now planning her wedding to drummer ‘Cactus’ Moser to consider doing a talk show,” said the network insider. “Wynonna doesn’t feel that she owes Oprah a thing. In fact, she’s insulted that Oprah turned to her only after Rosie flopped.”

[From Enquirer, print edition, April 9, 2012]

This is a wise move on Wynonna’s part because a signed contract would virtually guarantee standing un-Photoshopped next to a miraculously svelte Oprah on an upcoming issue of O! Magazine. And who really needs that sort of treatment anyway? No one — because it was the one moment in history that I’ve ever felt sorry for Rosie O’Donnell.

Speaking of Rosie, this week’s issue of In Touch has an article about Rosie attempting to bury (at least) half the hatchet by inviting Oprah to her 50th birthday party at Chicago’s Studio Paris. Naturally, Oprah didn’t show, but Mike Tyson did. It’s such a crazy world.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

A few days ago, we discussed the bitchfight that erupted between Oprah and Rosie O’Donnell after the OWN network dropped Rosie’s show after six disappointing months of declining ratings that were never that good to begin with. Naturally, Rosie took the cancellation personally even though there were a million different ways that she’d acted out towards her staff; she also obviously contributed to her show’s demise by abruptly changing the format and ignoring all advice to the contrary. Of course, it didn’t help that Rosie’s show was scheduled during her target audience’s dinner hour, but we could argue both sides of this issue forever and it wouldn’t change the fact that Oprah made a business call, which was well within her authority to do. As for Rosie? She should’ve realized who was boss when Oprah was photoshopped thinner than her on O Magazine.

Anyway, this week’s issue of the Enquirer provides more details about Rosie’s brief reign of terror and even quicker downfall at Oprah’s employ. It’s not a pretty picture:

Rosie O’Donnell snubbed her boss Oprah Winfrey’s advice on how to improve her talk show, and when she got canned, she told the powerful media mogul to drop dead!

Adding to Oprah’s ire, insiders say an abrasive Rosie turned Oprah’s once-peaceful production office intot he studio from hell by cursing and screaming at her staff.

“Oprah gave Rosie every possible chance to turn things around before she gave her the ax,” a source told The ENQUIRER. “And Rosie didn’t take her firing lightly. She went off on Oprah and told her to “Drop dead!”

Insiders say Oprah told Rosie her big mistake was making the show more about herself. She suggested she talk less about herself and let the guests open up more, the source revealed.

“Rosie refused to listen,” said the source. “It was her way or the highway, and Oprah couldn’t get through to her. Rosie thought she knew it all.”

Even worse was Rosie’s nasty behind-the-scenes behavior, said the source. “Rosie cursed, screamed and berated her staff all the time. No one escaped her wrath. She was always ranting that the people working on her show — many of whom were Oprah’s former employees — were inadequate. As the ratings continued to sink lower, Rosie’s roar got even louder. It was only when several staff members gave notices that Oprah finally became aware of the chaos surrounding Rosie. Oprah has always treated her employees like family, and she expected nothing less from Rosie. Oprah knew she had to do something fast.”

So she called Barbara Walters, Rosie’s former co-host on “The View,” for advice on how to handle the disgruntled talk-show host. “Barbara gave Oprah an earful,” said the insider. “She explained that while Rosie was explosive on the air, most people rarely saw the temper tantrum-throwing and mean-spirited Rosie that she experienced firsthand at “The View.”

Oprah was stunend. she told Barbara that she should have called her before hiring Rosie. Barbara admitted that when she heard Oprah was giving Rosie a talk show that she wanted to reach out, but it was already a done deal. Rosie has some real anger issues,” added the insider. “FIrst she feuded with Donald Trump and Barbara Walters, and now it’s Oprah. It appears her only show business friend right now is Howard Stern!”

[From Enquirer, print edition, April 2, 2012]

Obviously, Oprah really dropped the ball if she didn’t even bother to talk to Barbara about her experience with Rosie before handing the former “Queen of Nice” her own show. Then again, Oprah has been rather desperate from the beginning to see her network succeed, and Rosie was supposed to be the big rainmaker after Oprah’s name didn’t instantaneously do the trick. Like I said before, Oprah was only thinking about business when she fired Rosie, but TMZ reports that Oprah has taken steps to help the 30 staff members who were recently fired from OWN by providing them with “extremely generous” severance packages and providing them with a recruiter to help get them on track to finding new jobs. Oprah didn’t have to do that, and Rosie would’ve never done that.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN

Yesterday, we briefly mentioned that Oprah had unceremoniously yanked Rosie O’Donnell’s talk show from the OWN network after six months of disappointing ratings. Originally, Rosie and Oprah had signed a deal with the hope that Rosie could help save Oprah’s (clearly dying) network, but it just didn’t work out that way. Certainly, it didn’t help that the show had a small budget and was based in Chicago (where Rosie relocated), and most celebrities weren’t willing to fly in just for an interview while reportedly being asked to travel in coach class. Matters were made worse when Rosie’s show premiered to lackluster ratings that only grew worse after several format changes that started out as an hour-long comedy format with a live audience and ended up as a closed-studio, interview only show that featured the likes of a bunch of C-listers like Kat Von D., Jaleel White, and Dance Moms, not to mention Chelsea Hander and her neverending stream of little people jokes.

Furthermore, Rosie herself seemed to clash with most if not all of Oprah’s former staff, who Rosie took over as part of the deal along with Oprah’s old studio. Soon, Rosie fired Winfrey’s longtime stage manager, clashed with Winfrey’s former director, and humiliated her bandleader because he wasn’t able “play obscure Broadway songs off the cuff right when she named them on live TV.” Here are some more details that are excerpted from The Daily Beast’s discussions with several jilted staffers:

Through all the changes, some 30 employees from producers to writers had left because of budget cuts and possibly because of a boss who couldn’t decide what she wanted and frequently humiliated them in public. “It was such a f#*king hellhole,” says one former staffer.

What went wrong? Multiple insiders interviewed for this story say that both Ro and O are to blame; the network never fit O’Donnell, and O’Donnell wasn’t able to make the splash she was supposed to. At first, the new Rosie Show was a lot like the old Rosie O’Donnell Show, which is to say it featured the Rosie that America used to love. Rosie cracked jokes with her live audience and belted out Broadway numbers. She ended each episode with a game show that paired her celebrity guests (Roseanne, Sharon Osbourne, Valerie Harper, etc.) with regular people. The critics–those who could find OWN on their TV dials–offered a smattering of raves.

OWN wasn’t so sure, however. The premiere debuted with only 497,000 viewers, and by the end of the first week, Rosie had tumbled to less than half that audience. One issue was the time slot. OWN wouldn’t air Rosie during the day, because it didn’t have any original daytime programming. That also meant most of Rosie’s core demographic–soccer moms–would be eating dinner during its airtime.

O’Donnell was confused, too. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be and was losing confidence in the funny material that once made her great. She started spinning in different directions (should she be more political?) and frequently lost her temper, according to staff members.

There was another tricky problem. Market research had indicated that even the show’s gay-friendly audience was tiring of all the gay references and hearing O’Donnell talk about being a lesbian, but O’Donnell disregarded that critique. On a recent Friday night, she advertised on Twitter that she was doing a special where she talked about being gay in America. The show ended up being an interview with Randy Roberts Potts, the grandson of televangelist Oral Roberts, and it featured clips of Rosie talking to her staff about coming out. During another episode, she implied on TV that one of the younger staff members was gay, when he had never talked about his sexual orientation. The incident left him upset and embarrassed.

When O’Donnell returned from Christmas, she ordered that her staff build her a new set. She wanted a smaller, more intimate talk show. A few episodes later, she completely removed the audience. She traded down for a tiny side studio, with no band and no announcer. Without an audience, O’Donnell looked and sounded deflated. Although early test research indicated that O’Donnell didn’t rate well when she spent too much time interviewing celebrities, the new format had that as the focus. O’Donnell spent nearly an hour grilling the character actor Dermot Mulroney about his life, his childhood, his marriage, and fame. If the interview weren’t tedious enough, she had him play his childhood cello. (He wasn’t very good.) The full hour with Tony Danza wasn’t much better. Last week, Rosie had Liza Minnelli on, and the two women gushed about each other for the entire show. The interview was so toothless, it felt more like eavesdropping on two patrons having lunch at the Sizzler.

[From Daily Beast]

Rosie has apparently taken the cancellation very poorly, which is sort of understandable, but she apparently fled Chicago and refused to tell the staff the bad news herself. So they had to find out via the press release, which seems to only add insult to prolonged injury. Now the inevitable bitchfight between Rosie and Oprah has commenced:

It’s becoming the battle of the talk show queens, as Rosie O’Donnell and Oprah Winfrey aren’t talking to each other after Ms. O’s decision to cancel Ro’s talk show on her embattled cable television network, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

Winfrey did call Rosie to tell her that the show was being canceled and “it was a very strained conversation, obviously,” according to a source close to the situation. “Oprah wanted to handle the announcement of the cancellation in a professional and dignified manner. Rosie thanked Oprah for the opportunity and ended the conversation very abruptly. OWN’s public relations team and Rosie’s publicist handled the language in the press release. Rosie didn’t like the initial language of the press release because she felt that it placed sole responsibility of the failure of the show on her. Oprah didn’t need to get Rosie’s input or approval for the press release, but she was trying to be gracious. Up until the moment that the press release was sent out, Rosie wanted changes made, but Oprah instructed the release to go out, because it needed to go out, and she was just over the drama,” the source added.

In a statement announcing the cancellation of Rosie’s show, Winfrey said: “I thank Rosie from the bottom of my heart for joining me on this journey. She has been an incredible partner, working to deliver the best possible show every single day. As I have learned in the last 15 months, a new network launch is always a challenge and ratings grow over time as you continue to gather an audience. I’m grateful to Rosie and the dedicated Rosie Show team for giving it their all.”

[From Radar]

Radar goes on to mention that Rosie had instructed her own “people” to call Oprah in an attempt to dictate what the press release should include, but since Rosie refused to call Oprah herself, O just released the announcement on her own grounds. It sounds like Oprah at least handled the statement itself in a diplomatic manner, and I don’t see how Rosie could’ve possibly made it sound any better with all of her (likely) crazy demands.

However, Oprah’s troubles continue even after getting rid of Rosie and (unfortunately) firing that show’s staff. TMZ reveals that about 30 other people at OWN got laid off today, and those workers range from high level executives to newcomers. It sounds like the entire network is on the outs and won’t last much longer. At least Oprah seems to realize that these decisions must be made for the sake of business, but of course, Rosie is probably taking this all too personally.

Oprah shown in NYC on 3/1; Rosie shown in NYC on 1/10; Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet

Lady Gaga sat down with BFF Oprah Winfrey for a (pre-taped) Sunday evening interview on “Oprah’s Next Chapter,” which is part of Oprah’s floundering OWN network (that has, interestingly enough, just cancelled Rosie’s talk show after just one season). I’m always stunned to hear Gaga talk because while I realize that she’s completely made of smoke and mirrors, for some reason I’m usually surprised that she sounds so banal. Let’s just say that her vocabulary and manner of word usage is … lacking. Anyway, Gaga has fallen into the usual pop star trap here by discussing how much she wants to become a mother. Because that’s basically the only talking point that she has yet to exploit:

On her desire to spawn: “I want kids. I want a soccer team. And I want a husband. Yeah, I do. I’m being superfluous, but I don’t want to have one kid. I want a few. I want to experience that.”

On encouraging her creative process: “I have a couple of things that I do. The newest thing that I do? I don’t read a damn thing. No press. No television. If my mom calls and says, ‘Did you hear about … ?’ [Makes phone slamming motion] I don’t want to hear nothing about anything that is going on in relation to music. I shut it all off. Other than this interview, Oprah, I don’t intend to speak to anyone for a very long time.”

[From Oprah's Next Chapter]

Oh promises, promises. Let’s hope that Gaga makes good on her claim that she won’t be talking to “anyone” for quite some time. While it’s true that Gaga has been keeping a lower profile of late, that will only last until she has something new to promote, and then we won’t be able to rid ourselves of her visage (and probably her exposed butt cheeks too) for quite some time. So let’s enjoy the virtual silence while we can.

In the meantime, here’s another clip for Gaga’s “last interview for awhile” where Gaga waxes rhapsodic about her creativity or her craft or whatever she calls it these days.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet