By Jacky

Rosie O'Donnell will be return to daytime television this September as a co-host of The View on ABC. O'Donnell will join BarbaraWalters, Star Jones Reynolds, Joy Behar, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck.O'Donnell will replace Meredith Vieira, who is leaving to take Katie Couric's place on Today on NBC. Vieira was a co-host of The View since it premiered in 1997.

The announcement was made by O'Donnell and Walters at the live broadcast of the Daytime Emmy Awards on ABC on April 28. After much media speculation in print, on TV, and online,Walters and O'Donnell confirmed O'Donnell's new job. Ms. Walters, an executive producer of The View, told the audience that she indeed wanted Ms. O'Donnell to join the show.

O'Donnell ended her mega-hit Emmy winning talk show, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, in 2001, after six years very successful years. O'Donnell won a dozen Emmy awards for the show both as host and producer. In 2003, O'Donnell came out as a lesbian in an effort to bring attention to problems with gays and lesbians adopting children in Florida. She and her partner, Kelli O'Donnell have four children. They currently run R Family Vacations, a cruise line where all families are welcomed, regardless of their parental and racial makeup.

The View has a coffee klatch atmosphere with the hosts sitting around a table and talking--sometimes passionately about a variety of topics. A potential issue between O'Donnell and co-host Star Jones is already brewing. O'Donnell was recently interviewed by Diane Sawyer, who asked her to free associate in response to the names of several celebrities, including Star Jones. O'Donnell responded, "An interesting woman on many levels." At the same time, she looked directly at the camera, raised an eyebrow and laughed.

O'Donnell added, "I think it's very hard for everyone to participate in the illusion she presents as her truth."

Jones has kept mum on the topic of her radical weight loss and how she achieved it.

O'Donnell will become the first new cast member since Hasselbeck, a former contestant on Survivor, arrived in 2003. She is slated to begin in September.