Will the bloom be on Rosie?

Rosie O’Donnell plans an “uplifting” new television talk show that aims squarely at the audience Oprah Winfrey is leaving behind.

“I would like this show to make a difference in people’s lives, to be real, uplifting, authentic and focus on life, love and laughter,” says O’Donnell, 48.

She says she wants to “build on what Oprah began and excelled at for 25 years, in my own style and with new adaptations and ideas.”

O’Donnell won six daytime Emmys in six years as host of an entertainment-oriented talk show that ended in 2002.

But its ratings dropped by half in its final year, and her political outspokenness during a controversial year as co-host on “The View” turned off some viewers and TV executives.

O’Donnell plans to launch her show next year.

Winfrey’s daytime show ends in September 2011. Ellen DeGeneres is considered by many as the heir to her daytime talk throne.

Nipped in the Buddha

Akon has postponed a concert in Sri Lanka following protests over a music video in which scantily clad women dance at a pool party in front of a Buddha statue.

The R&B star said he hadn’t been aware that the statue was in the video.

A mob on Monday hurled stones at a private broadcaster that was helping sponsor the event and a “We Hate Akon” page on Facebook attracted more than 12,000 members.

The birthday bunch

Movie critic Gene Shalit is 84. Singer Anita Bryant is 70. Singer Aretha Franklin is 68. Actor Paul Michael Glaser is 67. Musician Elton John is 63. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is 62. Actress-comedian Mary Gross is 57. Actor James McDaniel (“NYPD Blue”) is 52. Actress Marcia Cross is 48. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is 45. Singer Katharine McPhee is 26. Singer Aly Michalka (Aly and AJ) is 21.