It was all over once the fat lady sang. Rosie O’Donnell’s increasingly abrasive presence on The View was capped off by a shrieking nuclear confrontation with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck this last Wednesday. Afterward, Hasselbeck noted with commendable restraint (”restraint,” for Rosie, is a nine-letter word that means absolutely nothing) that the next day at work might be “a little awkward, I’m sure.” Not to worry; Rosie didn’t show up the next day. It was Kelli’s birthday, so Rosie skipped work. However, her head writer did show up and was escorted from the building after she was caught drawing moustaches on mounted photos of Hasselbeck. Rosie also didn’t show up today, because it was the anniversary of the day she bought a new puppy or something. Finally, ABC made it official: Rosie won’t be coming back, not Monday, not ever. Rosie was scheduled to leave The View in mid-June, but she and the company have decided her presence is no longer required, which is something I could have told them about a year ago.

So, Rosie’s unexpected departure leaves a void at The View. How they fill it depends, really, on how they calculate it. Physically, her departure leaves space for two or three new co-hosts to join the cast. Intellectually, of course, it’s a whole ‘nother story. I wonder what Zippy the Chimp is doing these days?