Apparently Rosie O’Donnell—the South Nyack resident and master “Million Dollar Password” clue-giver—is ready for a full-time return to TV as she is slated to host “Rosie’s Variety Show” Thanksgiving Eve on NBC. Looks like those rumors back in July were true.

The one-hour special could expand to a “full series should viewers embrace the project,” Reuters reported last week.

(AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

Apparently NBC is trying to make a similar deal with Jay Leno, who was born in New Rochelle. Leno leaves his show next year and but is more likely to sign a deal with ABC, according to rumors. If that’s the case, a primetime NBC deal with Rosie sounds likely.

MSNBC earlier this year was close to giving Rosie her own own hour show but she claims the network “panicked” and backed out after the news broke out. I’m sure that’s what it was.

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: The Pleasantville Music Festival this Saturday will feature Joan Osborne, who landed a huge hit in the ‘90s with “One of Us.” Which of these Mike Myers movie characters claimed to write that song?

A) Wayne Campbell
B) Austin Powers
C) Dr. Evil

The answer is C) Dr. Evil.

And the other answer is yes, my Dr. Evil impression often leaves people speechless.

(Photo courtesy of Somers state police.)

In case you missed it, Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams reported last week that O’Donnell and her partner, Kelli Carpenter, “may not be so together anymore.”

Responding swiftly, the South Nyack comedian said the relationship is doing just fine. And in her trademark blog-writing style, she told gossip site Perez Hilton that “cindy adams and i r having a full blown affair. she is a lesbian.”

OK then!

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s trivia quesiton: On Sunday night, O’Donnell appeared on “Million Dollar Password” and helped Yonkers resident Dante Mercadante win $50,000. While giving clues, which of the following words did Rosie successfully get Mercadante to say?

A. Grease
B. Trump
C. View

Answer: B. Trump. The only clue she needed to give was “Donald,” which she said with a frown.

The South Nyack celebrity helped Yonkers resident Dante Mercadante win $50,000 on last night’s episode of the CBS game show. And yours truly witnessed the magic first-hand back in March.

Back then, I couldn’t really go into details that Rosie herself didn’t reveal the same day, because I fear lawyers and I signed so much of my life away when I attended the taping. But now I can reveal more. Hooray!

I sat in the front row right next to two women who said they were Mercadante’s relatives. They were very sweet, enthusiastic and thrilled with how well he did on the show.

One of the highlights that was tailor-made for O’Donnell was when she had to give clues to Mercadante for the word “Trump.” While frowning, she muttered “Donald” and Mercadante nailed it on the first try.

I was shocked that Mercadante didn’t opt to keep going in the money round. His chemistry with Ro was unlike any I’d ever seen in game show history. Both were exceptionally good clue-givers and receivers—a perfect 10-for-10 going into the money round. Instead of trying for $100,000, he took the guaranteed $50,000, knowing that if he didn’t successfully deliver enough clues in the $100,000 round, he’d leave with $25,000.

But Mercadante told host Regis Philbin in vague terms that he owed some people some money, which prompted an “eek” face from O’Donnell and laughs among members of the audience. I have no idea to whom Mercadante owed cash and I won’t be making any jokes about that here. But when he was mulling it over, O’Donnell pleaded, “Think about your life,” and that seemed to convince him to take the money and run.

Despite the fact that Mercadante was the closest prospect the show probably has to win the cool million, he and Rosie were a lot of fun to watch. And Ro had a good time as well, describing Mercadante as “completely” adorable in her Ask Ro blog mailbag.

Want to see the whole episode? Check it out right here (legally!), thanks to CBS:

(AP Photo/Peter Kramer)

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The quiz this week—which I’m very happy to say stumped Stacy-Ann (woohoo!) ...

A lot of Lower Hudson Valley celebrities have been rumored to be romantically involved with Cameron Diaz in recent months. Can you guess which of these stars has NOT been linked to her in the tabloids?

A. Matt Dillon, of Mamaroneck
B. P. Diddy, of New Rochelle
C. John Mayer, of Bridgeport
D. Jason Bateman, or Rye

The answer, as always, is at the end of the video and after the break.

Answer: D. Jason Bateman.

Now, the Mayer and Dillon connections have been well reported. But did you guess Diddy, like Stacy-Ann? Even though Mr. Combs have vehemently denied the rumors, that hasn’t stopped dozens of tabloids from reporting that the two were awfully close at a party recently held at Price’s house.

Following a volatile two-decade feud with Bedford resident Chevy Chase, the two buried the hatchet on-air last year. And this morning, Stern fans—possibly for the first time on the radio—heard the deejay who launched his pro career in Briarcliff Manor chatting it up with South Nyack resident Rosie O’Donnell.

Back in its hey-day, the throwdown got downright nasty, at times making O’Donnell’s feud with Westchester real estate maven Donald Trump look like rock-paper-scissors by comparison. On Stern’s show in 1998, the staff once estimated the size of O’Donnell’s noggin, filled what was deemed a comparable container with jellybeans and challenged visiting celebrities and listeners to guess the number. And O’Donnell always had some choice words about Stern whenever his more militant fans prank-called her self-titled talk show.

In recent years, however, Stern’s rants about Rosie subsided, particularly after he admitted on the air a year or two ago that they had a nice chat when bumping into each other at a restaurant.

Today, O’Donnell called from her home—presumably in South Nyack—to chat it up with Howard and the gang. The gripping interview, which lasted almost an hour, covered her career, her love life and her controversial theory about 9/11.

On quitting her own talk show: “I left because I could no longer enjoy it the way one should enjoy their work, and I was sort of paying someone else to raise my kids and (hated) not having time to live my life.”

On ‘The View’: O’Donnell said she respects her successor, Whoopi Goldberg, because of her ability to be real; remains friendly with Sarah Lawrence College grad Barbara Walters; but was never completely embraced by Joy Behar (for whom O’Donnell opened early in her career as a stand-up comedian). The liberal O’Donnell said she has only exchanged a few baby-related e-mails with conservative “View” cohost Elisabeth Hasselbeck since O’Donnell left the show. Then O’Donnell admitted that Hasselbeck was the most attractive woman on the show.

On her celebrity crushes: O’Donnell, a lesbian, said she really did have a crush on Tom Cruise and revealed that Matthew McConaughey also turned her on while slow-talking his way through a description on how to make beer-can chicken. She said her current celebrity crushes include Angelina Jolie, Angela Bassett, Penélope Cruz, Salma Hayek and Diane Lane. Not on that list, however, is Stern’s fiancée, Beth Ostrosky, whom O’Donnell complimented and described as a “too perfect … Barbie doll.”

On her love life: She said she was sexually abused as a child, lost her virginity when she was 21 to a man, and could count her number of sexual conquests on “two hands.” She added that rumors of a wild life as a single woman had been greatly exaggerated, adding, “I’m not even nude in the shower.”

After the break, find out O’Donnell’s take on Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan, her current tour and her curiosity about the Twin Towers’ collapse.

On therapy: O’Donnell said she’s attended therapy sessions since she was 16 and now sees a therapist on a weekly basis.

On Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan: O’Donnell said she’s far more likely to mother them than to be attracted to them.

On celebrity friends: She cited friendships with Madonna, Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand, whom O’Donnell said closely matched the heroine she grew up admiring.

On 9/11: O’Donnell said she’s not convinced the World Trade Center buildings fell solely due to the impact of the airplanes, saying the way they tumbled straight down more closely resembles abandoned Las Vegas casino buildings that implode due to strategically placed internal explosives.

On her current tour: She said she’s written a whole new set of stand-up material that even gets a little “sad” for the True Colors 2008 tour that includes Cyndi Lauper, the B-52’s (who once lived in Mahopac) and the Indigo Girls.

On stand-up supremecy: O’Donnell said Chris Rock could be the best stand-up comedian of this generation, citing his political commentary and social satire.

On doing a radio show on Sirius: O’Donnell said she started listening to the radio on a regular basis when Stern’s staff sent her a Sirius unit. At the end of the interview, she added that she was interested in hosting a one-hour Sirius show on a trial basis.

(Stern photo by Richard Drew/AP; O’Donnell photo by Lisa Poole/AP.)

While normally the prospect of seeing Rosie in concert is about as appealing to me as a rerun of “Exit to Eden,” the mission of the tour is, of course, a worthy cause—raising awareness about discrimination towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Plus, it’s damn cool that they got Regina Spektor to join the tour for the Boston concert.

link: True Colors 2008 Tour

Who knew Walters had such a fascinating, and at times sordid, personal life? An affair with a married senator—and a black senator at that! A father who attempted suicide! Three failed marriages and a mentally disabled sister! For more on the details of the memoir, check out this USA Today story.

Of course, the first questions on everyone’s mind—including Oprah’s—revolved around The View. Specifically, the tumultuous two-year period beginning with Irvington resident Meredith Vieira’s departure, then the Star Jones saga, and finally Rosie O’Donnell. Walters spent the longest period on Oprah’s couch discussing Rosie, and how the South Nyack often seemed to give their relationship a mother-daughter dynamic.

Rosie used her Ask Ro message board to respond to a lot of the questions raised by Babwa. We’ll recap the key points, along with Ro’s trademark haiku-ish thoughts, after the break.

On Barbara Walters’s assertion that Rosie regretted writing her memoir, “Celebrity Detox,” and didn’t promote it as a result:

i didnt promote it
because the way i left the view
distorted the story
changed the essence
it became very noisy
i wanted to book
the message of it
to b defined by each reader
not by sound bites
i think it is a good – honest book

WHAT THE HELL R U TALKING ABOUT
[expletive deleted]
DAMN IT

i love her

True to its name, the blog also has a chat feature which, as far as I can tell, has little to do with discussing the South Nyack resident. Instead, it acts more like support group for Rosie groupies. Here, judge for yourself.

[ Copy this | Start New | Full Size ]

The rest of Rosie Chat features more standard O’Donnell gossip, including enough YouTube clips to make you go blind. Not sure if it will ever supplant r blog, Rosie’s own blog, in popularity, but it’s got at least one thing going for it: full sentences and paragraphs.

So, who’ll be the next Suburbarazzi regular to get their own full time blog—DMX? Stephen Baldwin? Fred Norris?

The South Nyack resident used her blog Monday to stick up for the 15-year-old singer, whose Vanity Fair photos taken by Annie Liebowitz—in case you hadn’t heard by now—have caused a bit of a stir this week.

Annie Liebowitz; I had two photo shoots with her. You kind of do what she says. It’s intimidating, Annie Liebowitz. I also didn’t think it was a pornographic photo in any capacity. I thought it was sort of a beautiful portrait, you know. I like the one of her and her dad, too, I don’t know. It’s Annie Liebowitz, people, you know. Leave Miley Cyrus alone. Disney, making her apologize: Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy.

(AP Photo/ABC, Heidi Gutman)

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As you probably know if you’ve been keeping up with Suburbarazzi, we’ve become huge Kimberly Locke fans ever since interviewing her last month. So I couldn’t resist making another quiz question about the North Salem songbird. To wit:

After the recent episode of “American Idol” in which Locke performed her new single “Fall,” she told TMZ that one of the contestants tried to ask her out on a date. Alas, she declined. Can you guess which AI hopeful got the big diss?

A.  David Archuleta
B.  Michael Johns
C.  Chikezie
D.  Jason Castro

The answers, as always, is at the end of the clip and after the break.

Answer: D. Chikezie.

Most surprising of all, Locke told us that Chikezie was her favorite singer this season. Where’s the off-camera love?

“I sort of feel Britney has become the poster child (for mental illness). The kid is very young. She never had a childhood. She never rode a Big Wheel. Rather than put her face on mental illness, or Brooke Shields, who had postpartum depression, use me.”

The South Nyacker also confirmed that she’s given up beer. But not because she had any problems with alcohol abuse. Just because she wanted to lose a few pounds. “I’m not by any means sober,” she said. “Beer to me, I love it and I drink it like it’s water.”

Then, later in the morning, she showed off what she’s been up to (other than blogging, vlogging, and going on tour with Cyndi Lauper). You guessed it: writing a book. But it was no ordinary book. It’s an arts-and-crafts project book called “Crafty U,” in which she gives examples of how you too can entertain your child with a ball of yarn, some glue, and a balloon. At least, that’s how she says she’s able to occupy her kids minds since she forbids them from watching TV.

In the best moment of the appearance, after doing an on-stage demo of how to make a bowl out glue-hardened string, she said the creation could double as a hat. Especially for Robin Roberts, O’Donnell added, who has a beautiful bald head. At which point Roberts promptly, bravely whipped off her wig and tossed the string hat atop her noggin.

Now, not to complain or anything, but if Rosie really wanted to take Britney’s place, shouldn’t she have been the one shedding her hair?

Video of Roberts losing her wig

“Rosie shares her views of politics, wealth, fame” [GMA]

(Photos: ABC/Ida Mae Astute)

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At the end of the video and after the break is the answer to this week’s quiz: Born in South Africa, musician Dave Matthews spent the bulk of his childhood growing up in Yorktown, but he’s now lending his voice to TV commercials for the tourism board of the next state he called home. Which state is that?

A) South Carolina
B) Vermont
C) Virginia

The answer is C) Virginia. Where’s the same love for New York, Dave?

It turned into a Suburbarazzi goldmine when South Nyack resident Rosie O’Donnell emerged from backstage to try to help contestants to win the big prize. She looked great, jelled with contestants and quickly became a crowd favorite on-camera and off.

And although she didn’t get to host “The Price Is Right,” she proved Sunday that she more than holds her own as a game show celebrity panelist. Skateboarder Tony Hawk was the other celebrity clue-giver for the taping I viewed.

There’s so much more I want to say about what I saw, but because I signed my life away upon witnessing the taping, I’m probably not at liberty to disclose much more until that episode airs.

So why am I comfortable disclosing even this much information? Rosie documented this much on her blog yesterday:

today i shot million dollar password
hosted by regis – who is just the best
the set is HUGE
like millionaire/deal-no deal/1vs100 HUGE
this aint the old password
4 sure

it’s on CBS
in may
fun fun fun

You’d never be able to discern it, but if you watch Rosie’s video in the same post, I’m a maroon blur in the extreme lower-left of the audience at the 1-minute, 24 second mark. I swear.

Oh, and as a game show enthusiast, I really like the new “Password” format. True enough to the original(s), but more exciting.

More details about Rosie’s contributions to the show—and another local connection—after the episode airs, I promise!

(AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

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Also, you may have seen Vanessa Williams on the Barbara Walters Oscar special a week ago. During it, she confirmed a whole slew of rumors about her personal life. Which brings us to this week’s quiz: Can you guess which of the following she did NOT cop to?

A. Using Botox
B. Being the victim of racism while growing up in Millwood
C. Living with her 2 ex-husbands in Chappaqua simultaneously
D. Being an a Barack Obama booster

The answer is at the end of the video and after the break.

Answer: D. While she said she was thrilled for Barack, she said she was also a big fan of her neighbor, Hillary. Ultimately, she didn’t choose to endorse either.

Yes, it’s true: Rosie O must be going through some kind of Joy Bahar withdrawl. Why else would she choose to team up with the equally annoying yenta, Fran Drescher, for a sitcom about three best friends.

O’Donnell, who lives in South Nyack, confirmed that she’s working on the new show via her blog. All of which set of a deluge of comments on “Ask Ro”:

“Ro, is it true you and Fran are going to do a sitcom or are you just teasing us?” one wrote.

“True,” said Rosie.

“OMG. . . . you and Fran are going to be the new Lucy and Ethel! I am about to bust at the thought of it,” wrote another fan.

O’Donnell’s reply: “Honey, sign me up.”

So with that, I’m prepared to declare that the Rosie renaissance has officially jumped the shark. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

“O’Donnell, Drescher may star in new sitcom” [Los Angeles Times]

(AP Photos) 

Kathy writes:

So Rosie, Alcoholic or NOT? Just spit it out! Don’t go all Star Jones on us here. What led to you stopping the Beer? You’ll only help someone else. “you felt it was time�…WHY…inquiring minds…

Rosie’s response:

cause i was drinking too much
cause i didnt want to anymore
cause it is hard to lose weight wen drinking
cause i can never have only one

The next day, after People.com posted the headline “Rosie O’Donnell Gives up Alcohol,” the South Nyack resident confirmed that it was “beer actually” that she’d given up. So, the question remained: Was Rosie abstaining because she’s trying to shed a few pounds or because she had a real problem?

A more recent comment on Ask Ro may shed some light:

Rita writes:

Rosie, My husband and I used to watch your show and really enjoyed it. I only want to say, if you are an alcoholic, you ARE the only person who can admit it.
exactly

(Illustration by Ismael Roldon)

Her feelings on the two Democratic presidential candidates were published yesterday on the Web site of the Huffington Post:

It’s still early yet, but so far I find both candidates believable. They are different, with a different mix of talents to bring to the political table, but they both seem to have the passion, plans, drive, and intelligence I want in my next president.

Could a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket be our future? I hope so. I think America would benefit from the strengths of either individual, but if those strengths were combined, we might just have the Democratic powerhouse the country needs to turn itself around, and back into peace, prosperity and opportunity.

Clinton stayed in her hamlet of Chappaqua to cast her vote this morning.

(AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)