Rosie is done at 'The View'

It's not a big surprise after this week's blowup with Elizabeth Hasselbeck. "We had hoped Rosie would be with us through the end of her contract three weeks from now, but Rosie has informed us that she would like to take an early leave. Therefore, we part ways, thank her for her tremendous contribution to 'The View' and wish her well," said ABC Daytime president Brian Frons. The network would not renew her contract (asking price: $10 million a year), although there's still chatter about the breakup involving more than money. From Variety:

O'Donnell predicted how the media would interpret the coming exchange: "Here's how it gets spun in the media: big, sad, loud, lesbian Rosie attacks innocent, pure, Christian Elizabeth." On Thursday, [Barbara] Walters returned to declare peace and said O'Donnell had taken the day off to celebrate her partner's birthday. She denied the show scripts feuds to juice the ratings. "That's just absurd," she said. "The highest ratings we've had for 'The View' this whole year were in February, when there were no feuds."