TVSquad

ABC in turning things around on The View -- at least for one day. In what a cynic might call a stunt, The View is going to broadcast one show from the next two weeks from backstage. Essentially, what they're doing, is a rerun, but in a way you never saw the show.

On Friday, May 30, the experimental episode will show how The View is made, by lifting the curtain so you can see how the magic happens. They've chosen to show the upside down, backstage View on that Friday - and don't worry about marking it in your calendar. You can expect plenty of reminders from Barbara Walters (if she's there), Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Sherri Shepherd. With all that behind the scenes footage, only half of the show as seen originally -- from the camera's point of view -- will be seen.

I think we can totally forget about Star Jones and Barbara Walters exchanging Christmas gifts this year.

The former View host/Court TV host is quite angry at Walters for various things that Walters says in her new memoir, Audition. Among the many reveals in the book is the fact that Walters had an affair with a married Senator back in the 80s. This doesn't please Jones at all, and she's also upset at Walters' version of the events that led to Jones being axed from The View. Walters reveals that they all knew that Jones lost a lot of weight by having gastric bypass surgery and that the other hosts were ticked that they had to lie about how Jones lost the weight on the air.

It's the law of television: when one talk show comes to life, one must die.

Star Jones has lost her Court TV (sorry, TruTv) show, The Star Jones Show. The program only lasted about six months, but the powers that be have decided that because the network has changed its brand and focus (from legal/court shows to shows about car chases and lifeguards), the show no longer fits in. A note from TruTV VP Marc Juris says that Jones will stay with the network as a contributor, which sounds similar to Mario Batali's role at Food Network: his show ended but you'll see him on Iron Chef America once in a great while.

Mark your calendars kids, or not, Meredith Vieira is heading back to The View, for one day anyway, on October 8th. She'll be there to promote her Who Wants To Be A Millionaire game show and a DVD game that is coming out based on the show. I always seem to forget that she even does that because, man, I just don't get the attraction to Millionaire. It's just so dang slow. How that show made it while Beat The Geeks disappeared just boggles me.

Anyway, I suspect it will be all warm and fuzzy with a lot of palms getting sore as the whole group pats each other on the back for all the wonderfulness they are all putting out in the world, or something like that. An entirely different vibe than what we would get if this headline was Rosie returning to the view. Or even Star Jones, for that matter.

• At 8, preseason football. FOX has the Vikings vs. the Jets while ABC in Boston has the Patriots vs. the Titans (everyone else will see Set For Life).
• The CW has a new Friday Night Smackdown! at 8.
• ESPN has coverage of the Little League World Series at 8, while ESPN2 has coverage of the Western & Southern Financial tennis tournament.
• Noggin has a new South of Nowhere at 8.
• Also at 8: Sci-Fi has a new Doctor Who, followed by new episodes of Flash Gordon and Painkiller Jane.
• At 9, Star Jones is the guest on CNN's Larry King Live.
• Discovery has a new Survivorman at 9.
• USA has a new Monk at 9, then a new Psych.
• At 10, E! has a new episode of The Soup.

Check your local TV listings for more.

Star Jones has finally admitted that she lost a bunch of weight thanks to gastric bypass surgery that she had in 2003. There's a shocker. The former co-host of The View admits to the surgery in an article she wrote for the upcoming September issue of Glamour magazine.

Jones lost 160 pounds over three years. She says she didn't announce she had gastric bypass surgery because she felt ashamed that she couldn't lose the weight on her own. I can understand that, but she went as far as to lie about it and give people false hope that they, too, could control their problem with over-eating. I'm surprised she's not writing a book about it to make money off her weight loss. Does anybody else think she's just a bad person?

So, there. The world's biggest mystery is solved.

Welcome to TV Squad Lists, a feature where each blogger has a chance to list his or her own rundown of things in television that stand out from the rest, both good and bad.

Well, unless you've been residing beneath a naturally occurring aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids (in other words, living under a rock) you probably know that Rosie O'Donnell is leaving ABC's The View after a very boring, non-controversial year. Naturally, the producers will need to fill that empty chair with someone that may or may not be as, er, enthusiastic as Rosie was. So, please indulge me as I present my five suggestions on who should replace Rosie on The View.

Star Jones -- Sure, why the hell not? Really, this could be some good television. Star would come back, Barbara, Joy and Elisabeth would fawn all over her saying that they were wrong to let her go, and everyone would be the best of buds. But, that's not the good television. That would come about 10 minutes later when all of the sweetness wore off and Star began to tell her 'friends' off on how badly they treated her. I'm sure there would be plenty 'I told you so's' sprinkled throughout that first day she's back at work. The tension would be so great it would probably pulse out of your television. Now, THAT's good television!

Interesting post by Tom O'Neil over at his LA Times blog. O'Neil is the guy you see on many of the awards shows, especially the Emmys, giving his analysis and predictions. He worked with Joan and Melissa quite a bit, and knows why they were let go by the TV Guide Channel. And it didn't have anything to do with money.

The reason? Entourage (and not the HBO show). I guess the two women have too many people around them and it got to be more of a hassle than it was worth to the network.

O'Neil also says that Joan and Melissa are a lot nicer and more generous than they've been made out to be. He also reveals that several producers at the TV Guide Channel wish they had been kept on (the same with E! execs, because Star Jones drove them nuts on the red carpet). I'm sure we'll be seeing the two women again with another deal soon.

Here's something from the "I'd take that job as only a last resort" category: Star Jones is looking for an executive producer for her Court TV show.

While the position has all of the usual requirements for an executive producer gig, including the management of talent and staff, several years experience, and a big list of contacts, it also says that whoever gets the job will have to "oversee administrative functions like human resource issues, deal with Turner's legal department when necessary, and supervise budget allocations." Wow, doesn't that sound like fun?

But you're going to be working with Star Jones, which basically means puppies and rainbows all day, so if you want to apply for the job click on the link above.

[via Gawker]

Court TV is not only changing its name, it's going to change the programming as well.

The network has announced that the network will have a new name starting on January 1, 2008. No decision has been reached yet on what the new name will be, but the network will introduce a ton of new reality shows. Oh, sorry, they're not "reality" shows, they're "real-life series" watched by "engagers."

Among the new shows: Tiger Team, about security experts; The Real Hustle, about con artists and scams, and The Room, which will focus on police interrogations. They are also developing a series of shows with The Smoking Gun web site. As for Nancy Grace (she's the one smiling on the right), she'll be part of the new daytime lineup, but her show will be shortened a bit to make room for the new show from Star Jones.

Wow, Nancy Grace and Star Jones on the same channel during the day. Enjoy!

Every year at this time, we here at TV Squad give our lists of what we want for Festivus. The shows we'd like to see renewed, the shows we'd like to see canceled, the TV-related DVDs and books and toys that we want, etc. Here's my list of stuff I want as 2007 rapidly approaches. A couple of things I doubt I'll ever see, a few I suspect I will see, and a couple I might have to do myself, like buying that new deluxe Alias DVD set.

But as I said last week, if someone who reads TV Squad bought me that, I'd be a happy camper.

Our friends over at AOL have a photo gallery up of the scariest celebrities, just in time for Halloween. There are a lot of non-TV people on the list, but there are some TV celebs on the list as well. They list Dr. Phil (no explanation necessary, in my opinion), Teri Hatcher (for mentioning how much she likes her breasts in her recent book, plus other revelations), Flavor Flav, and Jackass star Steve-O (all that abuse to his body, plus I'd add pissing on the red carpet at a movie premiere).

But wait a second...no Nancy Grace?!? No Star Jones? How about Joan Rivers or Bill O'Reilly?

With Katie Couric starting tonight, I had forgotten that another new day was dawning on another longrunning show, The View. Rosie O'Donnell started today.

Now, I admit I'm not the demographic for this show (I don't get excited over new room colors, and I have a penis), but I have to ask: is it always this inane? The intro had what was coming up on the show (Jessica Simpson, Rosie, a new set, Rosie, and Rosie), and the audience was going nuts. Bonkers. Like, Price Is Right bonkers. Then the girls came out like they always do, except the last person out this time wasn't Meredith Vieira but Rosie O'Donnell. Barbara Walters led her out by the hand (you know, to remind every single person in America "I got Rosie on this show!"). Then Rosie did that Rosie thing she always did on her own talk show, the smile through gritted teeth with the arms extended. This look is second only to Rosie's other facial expression, puckering her lips so her face looks thinner.

Even though former co-host Meredith Vieira doesn't watch the show anymore (she's too busy getting up early and working on The Today Show), she did watch Star Jones' final show, and feels that the show has become a joke and is now hard to watch.

This is one of the many things that Vieira says in a "10 Questions" interview with Time magazine. She also talks about women who were angry with her when she left 60 Minutes, how she was raised a boy, and what kinds of stories she wants to focus on when her gig on The Today Show starts in a couple of weeks.

Gossip Janet Charleton - who broke the news of Kathy Griffin's divorce from husband Matt - is saying that The View has already chosen a replacement for Star Jones regardless of the on air auditions (including Kellie Pickler!) they're currently doing.

Charleton says she was told by a network leak (I had one of those once - it was very painful) that the new host was chosen months ago. Her name is Bo Griffin, the so-called "Oprah of Radio." What does that mean? Does it mean she's black? Is sometimes fat, sometimes thin? Gives away cars to listeners? She's also been a host on Good Day Live and appeared on other TV and radio shows.

No official word from ABC yet.

[via TV Tattle]