Rosie Caps Series With Sixth Daytime Emmy

By Stephen M. Silverman

Saturday May 18, 2002 01:00 AM EDT

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Not unexpectedly -- yet, gauging by audience reaction, not disappointingly -- Rosie O'Donnell claimed the crown in the talk show sweepstakes at Friday night's 29th Daytime Emmy Awards. O'Donnell, 40, who is set to depart the show this coming Wednesday after six years -- and several headlines and magazine covers later -- won a sixth successive Emmy as outstanding talk show host, while the program itself won as best talk show for the fifth time. O'Donnell said she's leaving her daily TV desk to pursue other interests, including raising a family. (PEOPLE recently reported that her companion, Kelli Carpenter, 34, is pregnant.) "I don't feel sad at all," O'Donnell said backstage. "I have had the most amazing six years of my life creatively. I didn't want to continue doing it just because I could." As for her latest Emmy, "I thought it was going to be ('Live with Regis and Kelly'). They've been No. 1 in the ratings." ABC's 34-year-old soap, "One Life To Live," had been shut out of the major awards in its division throughout the night, until it was named best daytime drama at evening's end. Other winners on the show, broadcast on CBS from New York's Madison Square Garden, included Peter Bergman of "The Young and the Restless"; Susan Flannery of "The Bold and the Beautiful"; "The Price Is Right" star (and Friday's Emmy emcee) Bob Barker as outstanding game show host; "Jeopardy," outstanding game show; "Sesame Street," outstanding preschool children's series; and "Reading Rainbow" host LeVar Burton, top performer in a children's series.