Joy Behar will return with an early-fringe talk show in September.
Behar has inked a deal with Current TV to host “The Joy Behar Show,” which will air weeknights (Monday through Thursday) at 6 p.m. starting in September. Behar will get a dry run of sorts when she subs for the vacationing Eliot Spitzer next week (Monday through Friday) on “Viewpoint” (8 p.m.).
Behar’s new Current show — a mix of celebrities, pop culture and newsmakers — sounds exactly like . . . wait for it . . . “The Joy Behar Show,” which she hosted for two-and-a-half years on HLN through last December (when her contract was, inexplicably, not renewed — which I still can’t fathom).
Behar, who’s co-hosted ABC’s “The View” since the show’s launch in 1997, will continue in that role.
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“Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts has another fight on her hands.
Roberts, 51, who battled breast cancer in 2005, has been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare blood-and-bone marrow disease triggered by the drugs she took to treat her breast cancer.
A teary Roberts, surrounded by her equally emotional on-air colleagues, made the announcement on yesterday’s show — and vowed to beat the disease.
“The bottom line is, I’m going to beat this — my doctors say it and my faith says it to me,” Roberts said.
Roberts began her treatment yesterday and will undergo a bone-marrow transplant later this summer or early fall — the timetable is fluid — with her older sister, Sally-Ann, as her donor.
(Sally-Ann was on hand to witness Roberts’ announcement, along with former “GMA” co-anchor Diane Sawyer.)
“I’m abundantly blessed. The reason I say I’m blessed is that my big sister is virtually a perfect match for me,” Roberts said. “She is going to be my donor . . . and the doctors tell me that this is going to be a tremendous help in me beating this.”
Roberts will continue to appear on “GMA” while she’s undergoing treatment, but will miss a chunk of time once she undergoes her bone-marrow transplant (“GMA” will use substitute anchors during Roberts’ absence).
In a “note” posted on ABC’s Web site, Roberts wrote said she learned of her diagnosis the very same day that “GMA” beat rival “Today” in total viewers for the first time in 16 years.
She also said she interviewed President Obama — who announced his historic support of gay marriage during the interview — just a day after undergoing a painful and “unpleasant procedure” to extract bone marrow.
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Series news: Fox’s “ ‘New Girl’ True American Summer Bus Tour” stops here tomorrow and Thursday at several locations, including 1211 Sixth Ave. (9-10 a.m.), the South Street Seaport (10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.) and Three Sheets Saloon (134 W. 3rd St., 6:30-10 p.m.). Facebook.com/newgirlsummertour has more info. The concept for the tour is based on the bus that Jess (Zooey Deschanel) borrowed for Schmidt’s (Max Greenfield) birthday in an episode of “New Girl.”
And Showtime has picked up two series: “Ray Donovan” (starring Liev Schreiber) and “Masters of Sex,” about the lives of sex researchers Masters & Johnson and starring Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan. Both are set to air next year.
Ratings: Sunday night’s Tony Awards telecast, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, averaged only 6 million viewers on CBS — down from last year’s 6.9 million. It was also down a whopping 17 percent in adults 18-49.
A&E’s “Longmire,” meanwhile, averaged 4.1 million viewers in its second episode Sunday night — matching its series-premiere delivery — and was up 22 percent and 14 percent in viewers 18-49 and 25-54, respectively. Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff and Lou Diamond Phillips star.
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Last, but not least:
* First Lady Michelle Obama guests tomorrow night on “Restaurant: Impossible” (10 p.m./Food Network) . . . Sell-out? “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon appears on QVC tonight (10 p.m.) with 50 Cent to shill his new CD, “Blow Your Pants Off” . . . Shout! Factory has acquired iOS applications Video Time Machine, Political Time Machine and Holiday Time Machine (whatever that means) . . . The fourth season of CBS’s “The Mentalist” (Simon Baker) is out on DVD Sept. 18 (Warner Home Video). Season Five premieres this fall.