Trivia

During the show's run, Rosie O'Donnell toned down her usual sharp tongue, to the point where she was called "the Queen of Nice" by the media. She appreciated the attention, but her return to standup comedy after leaving the show also meant the return of a harsher attitude.

There was only one show which did not air. It was referred to by Rosie O'Donnell as "The Scary Show", featuring guest Christopher Walken.

Rosie O'Donnell was outed by Roseanne Barr in 1998 when she was still hosting this show. At a press junket about Roseanne Barr's new talk show, the Roseanne Show, (1998) ,reporters asked her how people were supposed to know the difference between her show and the Rosie O'donnell Show. Roseanne said simply, "I'm the straight one." Rosie O'donnell did not respond. Rosie O'donnell had subtly outed herself before in 1996; when Ellen DeGeneres came on her show and was promoting a huge upcoming plot twist on her sitcom "Ellen". She was going announce that she was gay. But Ellen was coy with the audience; and so was Rosie. "Ellen: You might have heard rumors, and stories in the grapevine about a big announcement I am making. Well I'm here to tell they're all true: I'm Lebanese. Rosie: Wow. I'm amazed to hear you say that Ellen! Yow know what, I'm Lebanese too!" Hints like these would be dropped throughout the run of the show. Another reporter asked the question at a later press conference and Rosie responded with more coded hints: "If children want to use me as a role model that is fine, but I am not going to be a role model for a community of adults that are perfectly capable of living their own lives without me." Another non-denial denial. And then after the show wrapped, in 2002, when the pressure to bring in ratings and revenue was off, Rosie then made the big announcement; She was infact gay. The way Rosie phrased it; she made it seem like she was always out of the closet. She had an interview with Planet Berkley Magazine; among other media outlets, like Diane Sawyer, the New York Times and other Magazines and TV shows as well:"Rosie O'Donnell, in her first extensive public discussion about being gay, says in a television interview to air Thursday that she didn't come out sooner partly because she didn't consider it a big deal. O'Donnell said she didn't want the adjective "gay" permanently attached to her name. "It was never a big deal for me," she said. "It remains not a big deal for me. It is not the way that I describe myself. But nor is it a way that I distance myself from."

Rosie O'Donnell hired the same company that animated the opening theme song to The Nanny (1993) to animate her theme song in the same cartoon style, as O'Donnell was a big fan of the show.

Rosie O'Donnell's very first guest was actor George Clooney.