The First Promo for Rosies New Show

Rosie O'Donnell just wants you to know one thing: She's not Kathy Bates or Roseanne Barr. "People in the mall sometimes mistake me for them," she explains cheekily in the first promo for The Rosie Show, which will premiere Oct. 10 at 7p.m. ET on Oprah Winfrey's OWN Network.  for it. Watch it here:

“How are you? Good to see you!” says the actress and comedian, sounding a lot like the chummy Rosie who helmed The Rosie O'Donnell Show of the '90s. “I haven’t seen you in, like, a decade. Where you been?”

O'Donnell implies that her return to work is due to the fact that her four children are teenagers now. When her youngest daughter, Vivienne, 10, a cutie-patootie with a lopsided hairstyle, wanders into the shot, O'Donnell says, "Come over here. Oh, did you do your hair yourself? That's a great look." The overall effect is charming and familiar.

The idea being conveyed? O'Donnell may have left you in 2002 to pursue other interests (motherhood, activism), but she's still your funny, straight-shooting pal. And now she's back with a show that will feature "a lot of entertainment and comedy."

“I think by doing a little bit of a behind-the-scenes incorporated in the new show, you’re going to get to see how what it feels like to be 50 years old, moved to another city, to be divorced, which I never thought I would be, to have one child living with me and another child living at school,” O’Donnell, who split with partner Kelli Carpenter in 2009, told the Television Critics Association last month. “It wasn’t what I thought my life would be and I think that’s the truth for most people who are 50. You got a game plan, you got a blueprint in your 20s or your 30s and by the time you get to 50, you’re like, 'Holy crap, I didn’t expect these kinds of turns.' (You’ll get) to see how that has evolved for me since you have known me publicly in the pop culture way since my early 30s.”

Those who have caught O'Donnell's stand-up act in the last several years, or seen her on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, may have to readjust their impression. Her humor is darker and dirtier in her live shows, and in guest spots on Curb over the past few years, she's portrayed herself as an abrasive lesbian with a violent streak. Well, at least towards Larry David's infuriating character, which is understandable. And in last Sunday's episode, she and David competed for the same woman.

This promo, though, seems to forecast a return to her former persona as the Queen of Nice. At least for this TV show, anyway.

Halle Berry