It’s Rosie to the rescue!

Yes, Rosie O’Donnell takes over as the moderator on ABC’s “The View” today, with a mission to knit together the fabric of this fraying daytime show. Now entering its 10th season, “The View” has experienced a considerable amount of wear and tear in the last few months. Meredith Vieira, who was the program’s skillful moderator since its inception, departed in early June to take over Katie Couric’s vacated slot on NBC’s “Today Show.” (She debuts on the morning show next week).

That was followed by Star Jones Reynolds’s sudden exit. Ms. Reynolds had also been a longtime “View” regular and became highly controversial, soliciting freebies for her elaborate wedding and feuding with co-host Joy Behar. She quit on air, knowing that her contract was not being renewed. Last week, Ms. Vieira declared, “It’s not a good time in the history of that show,” and even called the program “a bit of a joke,” though later she said her criticism was taken out of context.

But does Ms. O’Donnell have the skill to repair the damage? And exactly which Rosie O’Donnell will be sitting in the no. 1 seat? It’s a fair question since the actress and comedienne has changed her persona as often as her hairstyles.

When she had her own daily talk show on ABC from 1996 to 2002, she was promoted relentlessly as “the Queen of Nice,” a warm-hearted, good-humored, albeit tomboyish working mom who loved kids, crafts, and cooking. She also was a big fan of such celebrities as Barbra Streisand and Tom Cruise, on whom, she maintained, she had a serious crush. At that time she was also at the helm of her own women’s magazine, a revamp of the century-old McCall’s called “Rosie,” on which she often appeared on the cover.

But when she quit her show, Ms. O’Donnell promptly came out as a lesbian and an activist for gay causes. She cut her hair into a buzz cut, became overt about her liberal views, and declared to a nightclub audience, “The bitch ain’t so nice after all.” The newsstand sales of her magazine immediately plummeted, and the magazine imploded soon after.

“The View,” which is Barbara Walters’s brainchild, is a daily hour-long gabfest, filled with girl talk, in which the four co-hosts, women of different ages, dish on the day’s happenings. Ms. Vieira, an attractive suburban wife and mother, was able to steer the daily conversation, make use of her journalistic background, and still manage to keep the show light, gossipy, and entertaining. Under her guidance, the cohosts, for the most part, seemed to get along She also was especially adept at talking about sex while appearing lady-like and appealing. It is an unusual skill set that Ms. O’Donnell does not seem to possess.

No doubt she was hired to bring some new attention to the show on the eve of its second decade on the air. When she is outspoken, Ms. O’Donnell, makes headlines — just as she did when she criticized Ms. Reynolds for refusing to admit that her dramatic weight loss was the result of a stomach-stapling procedure. Ms Reynold’s coyness about the matter was a factor in her departure from “The View.” It is also likely that Ms. O’Donnell will lock horns with Elizabeth Hasselbeck, the current 20-something co-host, and the show’s token conservative.

Recently, Ms. Hasselbeck got so agitated in arguing against the “morning after” pill that Ms. Walters, who appears on the show a few times a week, told her to “calm down.” If Ms. O’Donnell intends to bring her outspoken politics to the “View” couch, it could turn the show into a female version of “Crossfire” — not a format likely to be popular with daytime viewers.

So far, ABC seems to be trying to tone down Ms. O’Donnell. In pre-show publicity photos, she has a new, longer hair-do, she’s wearing more makeup, and she has even been “trimmed down” technologically, á la Katie Couric, who, in one of her publicity photos for CBS, received the same “slimming treatment.”

It has been reported that Ms. O’Donnell’s $2 million contract prohibits her from cutting her hair too short and that ABC has given her a list of 360 words that she must not use on the air. On her blog she has already started complaining about her image being “Photoshopped” and about how difficult she finds it not being in charge. Clearly, “The View” wants, if not “the Queen of Nice,” a nicer, gentler Rosie. But will her old disillusioned fans buy it? Will her loyal fans like it? And will Ms O’Donnell, never noted for self-control, be able to keep it up?

Stay tuned.