The NYTimes reports Rosie O'Donnell "is in serious discussions to return to television atop a new soapbox: a prime-time show on the cable news channel MSNBC." Jacques Steinberg and Bill Carter write, "Under one scenario, Ms. O'Donnell would be given the 9 p.m. slot where she would go head-to-head with two heavyweights of cable talk: Larry King Live on CNN and Hannity & Colmes on Fox News.

"Her show would replace Live with Dan Abrams, a relatively low-rated program that only recently replaced Scarborough Country, which was also little-watched."

>Update: An NBC executive close to the situation confirms the story with TVNewser. "We are talking to her, but we are far from a done deal," says the executive.