Contrary to the welcoming bouquet of flowers sent by benefactor Oprah Winfrey, Rosie O'Donnell's OWN television series is off to a sluggish start.
The funny lady's poorly-slotted show received low ratings in its debut and has failed to produce the caliber of celebrity guests warranted the former "Queen of Nice."
With actor Russell Brand as her first guest, O'Donnell managed to scrape together less than half a million viewers for the Oct. 10 show.
O'Donnell's former talk show, which aired from 1996-2002, raked-in about 5,000,000 viewers per episode during its third year.
Poor Premiere Guests
Brand appeared to be the cream of the crop for celebrity guests, in what should have been a week filled with A-listers.
Wanda Sykes, Roseanne Barr, Lisa Kudrow with the cast of the Broadway musical version of "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert," and Ricki Lake with musical guest Kevin Bacon and the Bacon Brothers respectively rounded-out the premiere week.
OWN Audience Falls Short
While O'Donnell's slow start could easily be attributed to an awkward 7 p.m. time slot, the OWN Network hasn't exactly delivered the audience that was expected to follow Winfrey after her retirement.
"Oprah's Lifeclass," a psychological one-on-one with Winfrey and various prominent celebrities, was only able to pull 333,000 viewers on Monday, according to Reuters.
O'Donnell is the lead-in for "Lifeclass," which airs during prime time.
After announcing her comeback earlier this year, O'Donnell said that it was her faith in Winfrey, alone, that motivated her return to television. She told The Oprah Magazine that she has turned down other TV offers since leaving The View in 2008.
O'Donnell has claimed use of Winfrey's old studio in Chicago for her talk show.
"There was something about getting to do it for OWN, with Oprah's sensibility, her touch, her world presence," she told the magazine in January.
Last year, O'Donnell shopped the talk show to various networks, with producers billing it as a viable replacement for Winfrey's show, once the talk queen retired this year.
Expectations
The future doesn't look much brighter in the way of celebrities scheduled for O'Donnell's show.
After the airing of her second episode, O'Donnell Tweeted former musician Boy George, inviting the washed-up '80's cult figure to be a guest.
Show Highlights
If there's one highlight of "The Rosie Show," it is undoubtedly the comedian's reversion to her roots in stand-up comedy.
O'Donnell has chosen to use a microphone and stand, and interact with the audience throughout a polished 10 minute routine to open the show.
